Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) today launched a new program called Product Fellows geared towards helping create managers who can guide a company’s products and services. In addition, it also revealed the application dates for its other two programs.
This is the third fellowship program that the firm has started and essentially completes the cycle of what most startups need in the technology industry. Applications for the summer 2014 Product Fellows program are now being accepted through October 31, 2013.
As you might expect, the Product Fellows program is all about product management. It is looking to foster the education of those who want to define the what of a product and share that vision with the design and engineering teams. In a way, KPCB sees this as being similar to the program that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer set up when she worked at Google, called Associate Product Manager (APM)
Undergraduate or graduate students in the US are eligible to apply for a spot and will spend a year working alongside a company from KPCB’s portfolio. Anyone interested in applying must be completing their studies in 2014 and pursuing a degree in “computer science, engineering, math, physics, or other fields related to software engineering.” If you have additional degrees in either design, business, or other relevant fields, then KPCB definitely wants you to apply.
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One key thing that makes Product Fellows different from KPCB’s other programs is the length of time. Students need to be aware that Product Fellows is a year-long commitment, much longer than the three months spent on engineering and design.
Last year, KPCB unveiled the first of what would be a series of fellowship programs. With its Engineering Fellows, college students could enroll in a summer internship program to be placed with one of the firm’s portfolio companies, whether it’s a startup like Klout, Coursera, Flipboard, Everlane, Path, or Nest. Months later, KPCB launched its Design Fellows, which followed a similar path to its engineering counterparts, except that it’s specifically geared towards design (naturally).
The firm says that it has received nearly 2,500 applications since the launch of these programs. Applicants came from schools like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and many others. What’s more, 90 percent of participants received full-time offers after their term was over.
So if you’re looking to apply for one of KPCB’s three fellowships, here are the application dates:
- Program Fellows: October 3, 2013 to October 31, 2013
- Engineering Fellows: October 3 to October 31, 2013
- Design Fellows: January 1, 2014 to July 31, 2014
➤ Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Fellows Program
Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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