Current work · Christchurch · 2026–present

GRID EATER by David Ruck

GRID EATER is David Ruck's current Christchurch project, bringing together the strongest lessons from 0199, digital services, hosting, business data, direct sales and AI-assisted development.

References & historical context

External references are provided for chronology and context. They do not imply endorsement, employment verification or a commercial relationship beyond what the chapter itself describes.

Not a random pivot

The same instinct, now pointed at digital infrastructure.

Surreal was about reaching an audience outside the established event channels. TelstraClear was about proving a different sales channel could work. PulzarFM After Dark was about trusting the audience rather than the assumption. 0199 was about combining data, telecommunications and sales into an alternative directory system. GRID EATER takes that same instinct into business discovery, hosting, domains, websites, automation and AI.

Business discovery first

The directory side starts with a simple problem: New Zealand businesses are scattered across ageing websites, inconsistent listings and fragmented data sources. I am building systems to organise that information, enrich it and make businesses easier to discover.

Then infrastructure

Once a business relationship exists, the adjacent services are domains, business email, hosting, websites and digital acquisition. That is almost exactly the lesson I learned from 0199, rebuilt for the modern web.

AI changes the economics

AI-assisted development means I can build and maintain far more capable systems with a much smaller team than would have been realistic a few years ago. I see that as an opportunity to lower the cost of modernising business websites while putting more value into infrastructure, data and service.

Less dependency, more control

I have always gravitated toward systems that let me move without waiting for a chain of other people to become available. In music that was one reason DJing and production suited me. In technology it means understanding enough of the infrastructure that a project does not stop because one vendor, developer or platform becomes unavailable.

Human support remains part of the product

I do not believe every customer wants to talk to a bot. Automation should remove repetitive work so a real person can spend more time solving the problem that actually matters.

The long arc

0199 taught me about directory data, telecommunications and recurring customer relationships. Digital services taught me the economics of websites and hosting. Media taught me how quickly an audience responds when the offer actually fits them. GRID EATER is where those lessons are converging into one system.

Current project: grideater.com ↗