CTO & Engineering Leadership Mentoring
One-on-one advisory for CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and technical co-founders navigating the challenges of scaling — organizational design, hiring, culture, and the transition from builder to leader.
Technical advisory · Est. 2026
The advisor founders, investors, and CTOs call before the hardest decisions.
TideHelm is the advisory practice of Duncan Grazier, former Chief AI Officer & CTO of BuildOps and an engineering leader who took organizations from founding teams to hundreds of engineers — through a NASDAQ IPO at Weedmaps, a $550M acquisition at ShopKeep, and the shift to AI-native software. I partner with founders preparing for their next phase, investors sizing up technical risk, and CTOs navigating the calls that will define their tenure.
- FounderAqen.ai
- Chief AI Officer & CTOBuildOps
- CTOWeedmaps (NASDAQ: MAPS)
- VP EngineeringShopKeep ($550M exit)
300+
Engineers led through hypergrowth
2
Exits: NASDAQ IPO and strategic acquisition
$550M
ShopKeep acquisition by Lightspeed Commerce
15yrs
Building and operating technology organizations
01 — Engagements
How I Work
Fractional Technical Leadership
Hands-on leadership for companies between CTOs or scaling through inflection points. I embed with your team to set technical direction, unblock execution, and build the engineering culture that outlasts my engagement.
AI Strategy & Implementation
Practical guidance on integrating AI into products and engineering workflows. Grounded in shipping real AI-powered products and leading teams through the transition. I help leaders cut through the hype and make decisions that compound.
Board & Investor Advisory
Technical diligence for private equity and venture capital. Board-level advisory for founder-led companies preparing for their next round, an M&A process, or a CTO transition.
02 — Who I work with
The room I’m most useful in
- Founders & CEOs preparing for their first VP of Engineering hire, or replacing one.
- CTOs & VPEs navigating post-Series B scaling, org redesigns, or platform rewrites.
- Boards & PE sponsors who need technical diligence, interim leadership, or an honest read on a portfolio company.
- Executive teams deciding how AI reshapes their product, their workforce, and their moat.
If you’re facing a decision that will shape your engineering organization for the next two to three years — that’s where I focus.
03 — Selected work
Recent engagements
Clients are confidential. The work below is representative of how I engage.
Founders advisory
An early-stage founding team scaling through hypergrowth. I advised the founders one-on-one through the pressure of rapid growth, helped them manage their board, and worked the hardest calls alongside them — keeping the company on the front foot as it scaled.
Head of Engineering
A fast-scaling technology company. I led engineering through hypergrowth and built out the engineering-leadership layer to match — hiring and developing the leaders, and shaping the org structure, the company needed to keep pace with its own growth.
04 — Background
A career at the helm
- Founder Aqen.ai
- A lean, AI-native product: an AI cofounder that coordinates the non-product work of starting a company — legal, finance, marketing, ops. Built independent and sustainable.
- CTO → Chief AI Officer BuildOps
- Led AI strategy and implementation through BuildOps’s transition to a $1B AI-native platform for commercial contractors.
- VP → SVP Engineering → CTO Weedmaps (NASDAQ: MAPS)
- Scaled engineering from 30 to 300+ engineers through a NASDAQ IPO.
- VP Engineering ShopKeep
- Built and led engineering through the $550M acquisition by Lightspeed Commerce.
- Writing itsmeduncan.com
- Essays on engineering leadership, AI, and building technology teams.
- Based Southern California
- Working with teams across North America and Europe.
05 — Get in touch
Start a conversation
No forms. Tell me what you’re working on and what you’re trying to decide. I read every email personally and reply within one business day.
Prefer to talk first? Book a 15-minute intro call →