KMF Professional Excellence Scholarship Program

Scholarships and active mentoring for entrepreneurially minded students headed into business and technology.

The KMF Professional Excellence Scholarship Program provides $12,000 scholarships and active mentoring to high achieving, entrepreneurially minded juniors and seniors enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities with intended careers in business and/or technology.

How the Program works Watch the Scholar videos

Apply for KMF Professional Excellence Scholarship Program 2026-2027 applications closed The next application period opens in spring 2027.

$12,000Scholarship per recipient, paid over two years
$100,000Intended annual bonuses for excellence in class participation, special projects and team competitions
~50 hrsTotal time commitment during each of the Program's two years
10–15Two-hour group Zoom sessions per scholarship year
119KMF Scholars and Program Graduates

The Program

Performance-based, with three primary goals

The Program is performance-based, and recipients must maintain their eligibility to receive funds. Please see the About page for more details.

KMF's three primary goals are to help scholarship recipients build strong practical foundations for professional growth; launch them confidently into their first and second jobs; and provide ongoing mentorship on their longer-term journeys towards top 1% professional performance and interesting, fulfilling, happy lives.

BuildStrong practical foundations for professional growth
LaunchScholars confidently into their first and second jobs
MentorOn the longer-term journey towards top 1% professional performance and interesting, fulfilling, happy lives

Building Substance

Eight areas of growth around one foundation

Select an area to open the related part of the curriculum.

Beyond skills

An entrepreneurial mindset, taught from real failures and real successes

The Program goes beyond developing essential skills and tools for early career success. We focus on cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset that prepares KMF Scholars to eventually start their own businesses if and when they become ready, at any point in their professional careers. Please see the Curriculum page for more details.

KMF is led by co-founder Curt Kohlberg, an entrepreneur who failed miserably at nearly everything in his twenties yet went on to found and serve as CEO of two highly successful international consulting firms specializing in business strategy, market research, contract negotiations, and transaction advisory services. Mr. Kohlberg earned a master’s degree from MIT’s Sloan School of Management in International Business after completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

The Program places special emphasis on the details, nuances, and key lessons drawn from Mr. Kohlberg’s numerous early-career failures and mistakes, and his later major successes. Exposure to these valuable lessons in regularly scheduled group Zoom sessions, in addition to one-on-one mentoring with Mr. K, provides the framework for the Program’s raw, authentic, soft skill-focused curriculum. KMF’s annual Jeopardy team competition, Poker Tournament, and Talent Show round out this powerful, one-of-a-kind learning experience.

Straight talk

Hear it from recent graduates and current KMF Scholars

0 of 5 recommended videos watched

Shown below are some straight-talk videos about KMF from recent graduates and current KMF Scholars. Applicants are strongly encouraged to watch at least five videos before applying to ensure they know what to expect, as while the Program is especially valuable and fun, it is also quite demanding.