Kauffman Fellows · Requirements

Kauffman Fellows membership requirements

Every criterion Kauffman Fellows publishes, with its source, the date it was verified and how confident we are in it, plus superseded figures, so you can see how the tests have moved.

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Read a requirement as the organization's published floor, not as a promise. A revenue test may have alternative versions for different business types, chapters can set stricter local tests, and invitation-only bodies publish criteria that describe members rather than admit them.

Current published criteria

3 rows

Criterion	Published requirement	Note	Provenance
Role or title	Working venture investor: direct VC investor, emerging or established GP, LP, corporate VC or ecosystem contributor	Partner-level or above is preferred but not stated as mandatory; 72% of a recent class were partner-level or higher	Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗
Minimum tenure in role	Must already be investing	The programme states that applicants who have not begun investing are likely too early	Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗
Other criterion	Must commit to attend all five modules and the Global Summit	Attendance at all modules and summits is required to graduate	Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗

How admission works

Application process

Applications run on an annual class cycle. Step one is an online form that the organization estimates takes about an hour, submitted with an application fee. Step two is a set of video interviews with current Fellows. Step three is selection by an admissions committee. For the Class 31 cycle, interviews began in mid-February 2026 and acceptances went out in early April 2026.

Invitation required

Sponsor required

Not documented by the organization or a source we could verify

Selectivity

Not publicly disclosed: Kauffman Fellows publishes detailed class composition data but no acceptance rate or applicant volume

Membership term

Two-year programme followed by lifelong membership of the Kauffman Fellows society

Primary audience

Working venture capital investors (typically partner-level GPs, emerging fund founders, LPs and corporate venture investors) who already deploy capital

Typical member

Recent classes are roughly 86% direct VC investors, 72% partner-level or above and 43% founders. Across the whole society, about 55–60% of Fellows are firm founders, roughly 80% are partner-level or above, and about one in three is female.

Do you appear to meet them?

The qualification tool reads these rows against a profile you give in ranges and explains which criteria appear met, unclear or unmet. Check your profile

If not: alternatives to Kauffman Fellows (NVCA, All Raise, BLCK VC, Endeavor).

Last verified: 6 September 2026 Report an error on this page

Sources

Kauffman Fellows — Leading the Future of Venture Capital, Kauffman Fellows. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
Network — Kauffman Fellows, Kauffman Fellows. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
Application Details — Kauffman Fellows, Kauffman Fellows. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 2
Kauffman Fellows Program, Wikipedia. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 8

Source tiers follow the published hierarchy: 1 official site · 2 official membership materials · 3 application documents · 4 annual reports · 5 government filings · 6 reliable business publications · 7 credible interviews · 8 other reputable secondary sources. Sources and data policy.