Key Takeaways
- • Andreessen Horowitz announced the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a tuition-free, in-person AI school in San Francisco for recent high school graduates, accepting roughly 50 students for its first class beginning Fall 2027.
- • The academy has raised $42 million led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg joining its board; individual investors include Tobi Lütke, Tony Xu, Garry Tan and Shyam Sankar.
- • Ten founding partners, including Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Stripe and Coinbase, will offer co-op placements, compute access and curriculum input, with more than 40 additional hiring partners.
- • The one-year founding program is free and not accredited, so graduates will not earn a degree or transferable college credits.
- • A planned two-year program targeted for Fall 2028 would charge elite-university-level tuition, pending regulatory approval, and is not currently enrolling students.
Summary
Andreessen Horowitz announced on Tuesday the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a tuition-free, in-person school in San Francisco aimed at recent high school graduates who want to build technology products and companies in the AI era, according to Quartz. The academy will accept roughly 50 students for its first class starting in Fall 2027. Admission is based on proof of work, meaning what applicants have built, shipped or earned, according to the academy's website. Students must arrange their own housing, although the academy says it is working to connect them with options.
The curriculum rests on three elements: Pursuits, which are self-directed personal projects or startup ideas; Courses, which are short programs taught by tech founders and operators; and Co-ops, which are work rotations at partner companies. Per Bloomberg, coursework spans topics from AI inference engineering to founder-led sales and interpersonal skills. Academy CEO Gagan Biyani said on Bloomberg Tech that instruction will also include storytelling and "finding love."
Ten companies have signed on as founding partners: Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit and Stripe. They will provide co-op placements, compute access and curriculum input, and more than 40 additional companies have joined as hiring partners. Founding Class Fellows will receive more than $50,000 in compute credits and a $5,000 travel and research budget. Per TechCrunch, the program is not accredited, so students will not earn a degree or transferable college credits.
The academy has raised $42 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz. Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg joined its board, and individual investors include Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan and Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar. The one-year founding program is free. The academy intends to seek regulatory approval for a two-year program it hopes to launch in Fall 2028, which would charge tuition comparable to an elite private university, Biyani said, according to TechCrunch. That program is not currently enrolling students.
Biyani said that beyond taking stakes in startups that emerge from the academy, Andreessen Horowitz is equally focused on placing graduates in companies already in its portfolio, according to Bloomberg.
The curriculum rests on three elements: Pursuits, which are self-directed personal projects or startup ideas; Courses, which are short programs taught by tech founders and operators; and Co-ops, which are work rotations at partner companies. Per Bloomberg, coursework spans topics from AI inference engineering to founder-led sales and interpersonal skills. Academy CEO Gagan Biyani said on Bloomberg Tech that instruction will also include storytelling and "finding love."
Ten companies have signed on as founding partners: Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit and Stripe. They will provide co-op placements, compute access and curriculum input, and more than 40 additional companies have joined as hiring partners. Founding Class Fellows will receive more than $50,000 in compute credits and a $5,000 travel and research budget. Per TechCrunch, the program is not accredited, so students will not earn a degree or transferable college credits.
The academy has raised $42 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz. Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg joined its board, and individual investors include Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan and Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar. The one-year founding program is free. The academy intends to seek regulatory approval for a two-year program it hopes to launch in Fall 2028, which would charge tuition comparable to an elite private university, Biyani said, according to TechCrunch. That program is not currently enrolling students.
Biyani said that beyond taking stakes in startups that emerge from the academy, Andreessen Horowitz is equally focused on placing graduates in companies already in its portfolio, according to Bloomberg.
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