Thirty years of owning
the problems we advise on.
The fractional executive market is crowded with career consultants who have never owned the problems they're advising on. That's not this practice. X Holdings is led by a working CEO with P&L scars across five industries.
“The gap between $3M and $30M isn’t a strategy problem. It’s an execution problem with a capital structure on top.”— Carey Grainger, Principal
Carey Grainger
Wall Street
Lehman Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney, and Citigroup. Grew assets under management from $50M to $500M+ through the late '90s and early 2000s — and learned how capital actually behaves under pressure.
Kairos Advisory
Transitioned from managing capital to counseling the companies that need it: growth-stage businesses navigating the gap between where they are and where the numbers say they could be.
Real Estate
Multi-asset-class work spanning hospitality, commercial, raw land, and conservation easements — underwriting, development, and workouts through the toughest real estate cycle in a generation. Advised on $300M+ in distressed real estate assets.
Healthcare — The Patronus Companies
Built the Patronus companies — Patronus Medical and Patronus Neurology. Scaled Patronus Neurology to a practice serving 8 healthcare platforms and handling 1,000+ monthly consults.
X Holdings LLC founded
Incorporated to formalize a practice built over two decades: helping mid-market companies navigate the inflection points that require both financial acumen and operational discipline.
Active operator
Leading X Holdings, Grainger Cooper Construction, GCX Health, Maria Cooper Design, and Good Listener — with active client engagements including Hitman Academy, American Top Team Atlanta, and Superfly BJJ. Not a retired operator — a current one.
What you get that you won't get elsewhere
Active operator
We run a licensed contractor and a multi-entity holding company right now. The advice is current because the experience is.
Cross-industry fluency
CEO, COO, CFO, and business development roles across construction, healthcare, real estate, software, and family office work. Owners who straddle industries rarely find advisors who can cross with them.
AI-forward execution
Engagements leverage Claude, MCP integrations, and modern tooling to compress weeks of analysis into days. Clients get leverage, not just advice.
Peer-level posture
No translation layer, no condescension, no PowerPoint theater. The person on the discovery call is the person doing the work.
Talk to the principal, not a partner track.
30 minutes, no cost, no pitch. Bring the problem that's costing you the most sleep.