The KidStrong Founder on Raising Five Kids While Building 55 Locations
Matt Sharp’s wife taught kindergarten PE for seven years and kept noticing the same thing: the kids were arriving less physically capable and less equipped socially than the ones before them. They wanted something better for their own daughter. That became KidStrong.
It is now in 55 locations with about 30,000 kids in it. Matt has five children of his own.
Why a kindergarten PE teacher started KidStrong
The programme came out of a gap the Sharps saw firsthand rather than a market they identified. The framing Matt uses for what it is trying to do is deliberately unglamorous:
“Let’s build awesome humans, then let the rest kind of work itself out.”
Which extends to how he thinks about youth sport generally, focusing on the process over the result: are we better people at the end of the season than we were at the start, rather than did we win.
Win the family to win the war
“You have to win the family to win the war.”
Matt is honest that this is partly a business observation. If the father engages, the mother is usually already there, and the family commits. But he means it about the household too, and about what children are actually watching:
“I think one of the greatest gifts you can give a child is to, like, model either like, you want to model leadership for them. But to model that, they have to see you.”
Which is the whole argument for blending work and family rather than sealing them apart. If they never see you work, they cannot learn how you work.
Three principles he parents by
Love them no matter what. Meet them where they are, and accept that they are not you and will not turn into you.
Get aligned with your spouse. On work ethic, discipline, sport, academics, all of it.
“I think if you’re not aligned as like father and mother, it’s very confusing for the kids. And it’s like having two bosses that are completely different telling you completely different things.”
Stay humble about it. Matt is blunt that nobody has this solved:
“I think a lot of parents love their kids. No one really knows what they’re doing.”
Buoy or anchor
Matt reads stoicism and applies one idea from it above the others:
“There’s always this like a thing happens and then there’s a reaction. And the distance between those two means a lot.”
A buoy rides every wave. An anchor holds. With five children and 55 locations, he argues the job is to be the thing that does not move when the news arrives, and that the gap between event and reaction is where that gets decided.
His view of a growing calendar follows from the same place:
“I think as you get more busy you don’t do more stuff you just get more strategic with your time.”
Questions about Matt Sharp and KidStrong
Who founded KidStrong?
Matt Sharp. He built it with his wife, a former kindergarten PE teacher whose observations about declining physical and social readiness in young children prompted the idea.
Why was KidStrong started?
Matt’s wife spent seven years teaching kindergarten PE and watched children arrive with weaker physical literacy and more social and emotional gaps year over year. Wanting something better for their own daughter, the couple built a science-based child development programme.
How big is KidStrong?
At the time of this conversation, around 55 locations serving roughly 30,000 children.
How many kids does Matt Sharp have?
Five.
What are Matt Sharp’s three parenting principles?
Love them no matter what and accept they will not be a copy of you. Stay highly aligned with your spouse on how you raise them, because mixed signals leave a child with no way to win. And stay humble, because in his words a lot of parents love their kids and nobody really knows what they are doing.
“Let’s build awesome humans, and let the rest work itself out.” - Matt Sharp Share on XMatt Sharp Links & Other Resources
Matt Sharp Bio
Matt Sharp is the CEO and Founder of KidStrong and the CoFounder and President at Causely. Matt has over six years of tech start-up experience in social gaming, SAS SMB, Enterprise, and digital marketing.
He’s also the former Co-Owner of CrossFit Maximus, Zone Fitness, and formerly Derby City CrossFit.
Matt originally created KidStrong to help his daughter Ella become strong and independent. This simple goal led to forming a team of experts who built a unique curriculum focused on building stronger kids through innovative training.
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