Cogn8 Systems is a small senior studio. We take products from architecture to launch for founders and operators in healthcare, marketplaces, and anywhere else people need to trust the software. You work with the people writing the code, at fair market rates, on a schedule we commit to in writing.
Work
01 · Fine-art commissioning, London
Otterkin lets collectors commission paintings, sculpture, and ceramics directly from living artists. The platform covers artist profiles, a structured commission request, and The Commonplace, an editorial journal on art history and criticism. Julie is Otterkin’s CTO and leads its architecture.
02 · Patient-held medical ID
MedPass keeps a person’s emergency contacts, conditions, prescriptions, and insurance cards in one record they control. A time-limited QR code gives a provider or first responder access for as long as they need it and no longer. It runs on IDmgmt, the patient identity platform we incubated and still architect.
03 · Habitat restoration guide and store
A field guide to Florida’s native butterflies and the plants they depend on, with a ZIP-code finder, a native plant shop, and an admin panel that runs orders and nursery inventory. We built all of it for a client who works in habitat restoration.
In the studio now
Why Cogn8
No account managers, and no juniors learning on your budget. The people on your first call are the people who design and build your system.
Every engagement starts with a written scope and a delivery date. We work in short cycles, so you see progress every week and nothing surprises you at launch.
We charge market rates for senior work. Staying small keeps our overhead low, and the quote reflects that. You get a number before any work starts.
You get working software, documentation, and code your team can maintain. We can stay on after launch if you want us to, but you are never locked in.
Services
Ordered from lightest to heaviest commitment. A lot of clients start with Architect and move into Build once the plan is clear.
We help you think it through.
Best for
Teams with engineers who have open questions about platform design, data, or identity.
You get
Architecture specification, data model, identity design, and a build plan or business plan you can act on. Documents and decisions, not code.
Length
A few weeks
We build alongside you.
Best for
Founders who bring the market knowledge and the relationships, and need a technical partner.
You get
Platform architecture, the MVP, and engineering through launch and pilot, built on our identity and document layers. Equity-bearing partnerships welcome.
Length
Through launch
We build it for you.
Best for
Companies that need a real platform delivered, not a prototype.
You get
Everything from architecture to deployment on Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud, with documentation and a clean hand-off to your team.
Length
Scoped per project
Process
Thirty minutes, free. We learn what you’re building and tell you plainly whether we’re the right fit.
A written scope, a price, and a delivery date. The assumptions we’re least sure about are named up front.
Short cycles with working software you can use along the way, and a check-in every week.
A finished, documented system your team can run from day one, or an ongoing partnership if you want one.
We’d rather be corrected in week two than wrong at launch.
About
I’ve spent thirty years building the web, long enough to see several generations of platforms get built, scale, and either mature into infrastructure or quietly disappear. I studied Classics at Penn State and walked into the first generation of web development the year I graduated.
Since then I’ve consulted with Johns Hopkins on legacy insurance products, with Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield on enterprise architecture and infrastructure, and with Elsevier on the translation pipeline for clinical drug information. Today I’m also CTO of Otterkin.
I started Cogn8 to work on platforms where getting it right matters most: identity, healthcare, documents people may one day need to defend in court, and marketplaces where trust is the product. I keep the studio small so I stay close to every project we take on.
The throughline
Making complex systems understandable, trustworthy, and usable for the people who rely on them.
Scope & Investment
Every sprint is fixed-fee, delivered on a committed timeline, with Julie McFadden architecting and reviewing the code. Choose a curated starting package or assemble your exact scope below.
Scope, architecture, wireframes, and clickable prototype
Core application build, visual mark, and initial deployment
Production hardening, launch polish, and 30-day post-launch warranty
Deep-dive feasibility, security posture, and compliance review
Dedicated 2-week feature sprint or complex third-party integration
Automated test suite, security scans, and cross-browser stress testing
FAQ
It depends on scope, so we quote after the intro call, in writing, before any work starts. We charge fair market rates for senior work, without agency markup.
Contact
The quickest way to start is a free 30-minute call with Julie. You’ll come away with an honest read on your project, whether or not we end up working together.
You’ll speak with Julie McFaddenFounder & Platform Architect