Holding company · Est. 2026
I build companies in the AI era — and the tool that makes them possible.
Aqen.ai is the AI cofounder system: you bring the idea, Aqen brings everything else. Grazier Ventures is the holding company for what Duncan Grazier builds with it. First venture: Aqen.ai. Every Grazier Ventures company from here is built using Aqen.
01 — Thesis
Aqen is the company. Grazier is the structure that catches what comes next.
Aqen.ai — the company
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 — the structure
The holding company for the portfolio of companies built using Aqen. AI has collapsed what it costs — in time, capital, and headcount — to take an idea to a real business. Aqen is the first. There will be more.
The writing — the public notebook
Essays on engineering leadership, AI, and building in the AI era at itsmeduncan.com. An obligation of operating: to give back the lessons that can only be earned by doing.
02 — Portfolio
What we’re building and operating.
Highball Platform
An AI-native data platform for real-time trains. Infrastructure, APIs, and tooling for the next generation of rail and transit applications — built and operated by one.
highballplatform.com →Highball.app
Real-time train tracking for families and rail enthusiasts. A consumer app built on top of the Highball Platform — AI turns raw feeds into a delightful, personal experience.
itsmeduncan.com/highball →Civic SLM
A domain-specialized small language model for U.S. local government — cities, counties, and townships across all 50 states. Eval-first LoRA fine-tune of Qwen2.5-7B with open weights, open dataset, and open evals.
github.com/itsmeduncan/civic-slm →itsmeduncan.com
Writing on engineering leadership, AI, and building technology teams. Essays, talks, and the long-running personal archive of Duncan Grazier.
itsmeduncan.com →03 — Get in touch