Andreessen Horowitz, popularly known by their monicker a16z, has spent nearly two decades in identifying, and investing in some of the most disruptive companies of this generation. The legendary investor is now looking to create “AI-native” talent for some of these promising companies, as it launches the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a highly selective school that positions itself as a direct alternative to your classic four year college degree.
Applications are open for the Founding Class Fellowship, a one-year programme starting Fall 2027. It is tuition-free, and includes travel and everything else to start with. Everything after that — a two-year programme the Academy intends to launch in Fall 2028, pending regulatory approval — will cost roughly what an elite private university does.
The Academy has raised $42M in funding, led by a16z, with Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg on the board. Angels include Tobi Lütke, Garry Tan, Tony Xu, and Adam D’Angelo. It also has ten founding partners, which includes the likes of Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia among others.
Gagan Biyani, the founder of Udemy & Maven, and the one leading this Horowitz Andreessen Academy said, “The focus of The Academy is on building – which we believe is the most valuable thing humans can do to learn to become a productive, curious and happy adult. Our goal is to help high school graduates thrive by cultivating this instinct. Building is an underlying skill that helps you create lifelong friendships, be indispensable at work, create jobs by providing value to society, and discover your inner joy. That’s why we’re doing this”.
The Academy is structured around three things: Pursuits, Courses, and Co-ops. Pursuits are personal projects — startup ideas, rabbit holes, quests — that students choose themselves. Courses are short, high-impact programmes — anywhere from two days to four weeks — taught by actual practitioners. And Co-ops are immersive stints at real companies. The Academy launches with ten founding partners — Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe — who will co-create curriculum, provide compute access, and offer hands-on learning opportunities.
Founding Class Fellows receive $50,000 in compute credits, a $5,000 travel and research budget, and no tuition bill. There are no grades, no tests, and no homework.
The Academy is located in the heart of San Francisco. Applications are officially open for the Founding Class Fellowship, the academy’s inaugural one-year program, which will begin in Fall of 2027. Notably, Founding Class Fellowship will be tuition-free.