theses

3x Thesis: Kids Are the New Luxury

Lee McCabe

31 Oct 2025 — 1 min read

Luxury is no longer worn. It’s scheduled.

The modern affluent parent isn’t showing off with a Rolex.....they’re flexing through weekend fencing tournaments, bilingual tutoring, and elite chess camps.

We’re witnessing the rise of child-focused conspicuous consumption.

And the numbers are massive:

According to the Brookings Institution, families in the top income quintile now spend 7x more on child enrichment than those in the bottom quintile.
Total spend on extracurriculars, coaching, tutoring, and test prep in the US has surpassed $70B annually. That’s before you count adjacent spend like travel teams, gear, and summer intensives.

Modern parenting has become a status game.
And increasingly, a financial arms race.

Parents aren’t just paying for better grades.
They’re buying future admissions, access, and networks.
They want to stack the odds in their kid’s favour.

Here’s the PE opportunity:
The industry is local, fragmented, and relationship-driven. That’s a headache for scale, but a goldmine for buy-and-build.

Start by acquiring specialised operators in:
• SAT/ACT and selective school test prep
• Sport-specific private coaching
• Academic tutoring in maths, science, coding
• Arts, music, and niche enrichment (robotics, debate, Mandarin)

Then industrialise the back-end:
• Centralise scheduling, billing, payroll, customer service
• Digitise where possible: test prep, academic subjects, language coaching
• Standardise branding, quality, and UX across markets

Parents don’t want a “lesson.”
They want the illusion of certainty.
If you can sell that (reliably) you’ve got lifetime value for at least a decade per family.

The final play is bundling.
Create a premium membership or loyalty tier. Offer early access to summer programs, concierge academic advising, priority slots for elite coaches.

Once you’re the trusted source, it’s not a transaction anymore.
It’s an annual subscription to a future outcome.

Education used to be an expense.
Now it’s an asset class for both parents and investors.

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