David J Grant was born in Boston, England. Joining the Royal Air Force aged 18 he qualified in a specialist area of electronics, completing his education at the University of Birmingham. Developing an interest in technical writing graduating to professional features he became a paid contributor to a number of publications.

Making a career leap into publishing David launched his own magazine called Electronics & Computing. EMAP plc purchased the title and he used the funds to launch two other publications, spending the next 20 years working in sales and marketing.