The Center for Venture Education is looking for a few good, budding venture capitalists.
The Shawnee Mission, Kan., center seeks applicants for the ninth class of the Kauffman Fellows Program, a post-graduate program training leaders in venture capital and high-growth companies. Fifty of the 61 Kauffman Fellow alumni are venture capitalists, including 28 general partners; four founders of venture capital firms, and six who are both founders and chief executive officers of portfolio companies.
For the first time, the Kauffman Fellows program will be open not only to individuals entering the venture capital field from other professions such as technology or the sciences, but also will include investment professionals who have been in the venture capital industry for less than three years. The fellowship is also open to international students for the first time, said Trish Costello, president and CEO of the center.
These changes were made possible a year ago when the fellowship program was spun off into an independent educational institution. The fellowship was created by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, also in Shawnee Mission, the 11th largest charitable foundation with $1.6 billion in assets. It was started as a formal apprenticeship for future venture capitalists, but Mr. Kauffman wanted the program limited to U.S. citizens.
"Mr. Kauffman died 10 years ago, before the emergence of the global community," Ms. Costello notes in a statement on the program's website. "We believe if he were alive today, he would applaud our work to bring together the ‘best and brightest' from around the world for venture creation."
Students work with venture firms that mentor the fellows. The program is seeking to add 12 to 15 venture capital firms to be mentors for Kauffman Class 9. The application deadline for those switching careers is Nov. 30; the deadline for applicants already working for venture capital firms is Feb. 15. Applications are available at www.kauffmanfellows.org.
