About Duncan Grazier

I build.

Right now I’m building Aqen.ai. You bring the idea. Aqen brings everything else — legal, finance, marketing, ops, all of it coordinated across every business function. Like having a cofounder who’s built it all before.

Grazier Ventures is the holding company for the portfolio of companies I’ll build using Aqen. Aqen is the first. The thesis is simple: AI has collapsed what it costs — in time, capital, and headcount — to take an idea to a real business. Not every venture in the portfolio will be an AI product. Every one will get built using AI as the force multiplier, and most using Aqen specifically.

Alongside building, I run TideHelm — the advisor founders, investors, and CTOs call before the hardest decisions. I partner with founders preparing for their next phase, investors sizing up technical risk, and CTOs navigating the calls that will define their tenure.

What I Built Before This

Before Aqen, I spent 15+ years building and scaling engineering organizations through the moments that define companies.

Most recently, Chief AI Officer at BuildOps — a $1 billion unicorn transforming how commercial contractors work through AI-powered software. I joined as CTO and transitioned to focus exclusively on AI strategy and implementation as the company built out its AI platform.

Before BuildOps, I led engineering through two defining transitions: scaling Weedmaps from 30 to 300+ engineers through hypergrowth and IPO, and steering ShopKeep through a $550M acquisition by Lightspeed. Across all of it, I kept learning the same lesson: the hardest problems in technology aren’t technical — they’re human. And now, increasingly, they’re about what gets coordinated, not what gets coded.

What I Write About

This blog is my public notebook — where I work through the ideas I’m wrestling with as AI reshapes what it means to build.

Building in public. I’m documenting the transition from operator to founder in real time. What I’m learning, what I’m getting wrong, what it actually looks like to build a company in 2026 with AI as the force multiplier from day one.

AI implementation, honestly. Not the hype. Incremental adoption, polymorphic cultures where humans and AI agents collaborate, the Minutes Added to Workforce framework for measuring AI’s real value beyond cost reduction.

Engineering leadership. Scaling teams 10x, managing through IPOs and acquisitions, the self-awareness and communication skills that matter more than technical brilliance. What changes about leadership when your team is polymorphic.

Industry transformation. The commercial contracting work that got under my skin at BuildOps. A $300B industry built on instinct, meeting data for the first time.

Why I Write

In 2017, I had 256 emails waiting for me on a Friday morning. Four hours of focus time gone before I’d done any real work. That experience led me to time minimalism and rethinking how knowledge work actually works. Almost a decade later, I’m asking the same question at a much larger scale — except now I’m building the answer, not just writing about it.

If even one person builds a better company, ships a better product, or leads with more intention because of something I’ve shared here, the writing was worth it.

Beyond the Blog

Member of the CNBC Technology Executive Council. Mentor on Plato and Intro.co. I’ve spoken at SXSW and been featured on InfoQ’s Engineering Culture podcast and Allstacks’ Stacked Sessions.

I live in San Clemente, California with my family. When I’m not building, I’m probably at the beach with my kids or planning the next camping trip.

Let’s Connect

Most active on LinkedIn. Code on GitHub. Building Aqen.ai through Grazier Ventures. Advising at TideHelm.

If you’re building something, leading through the AI transition, or just want to compare notes — reach out.

This site shares my personal views and experiences. All opinions are my own, including the bad ones.