Andreessen Horowitz is launching an ‘academy’ with no homework and partnerships with Palantir, Google, and Meta
The Horowitz Andreessen Academy trades degrees and homework for stints at tech companies.
The Horowitz Andreessen Academy trades degrees and homework for stints at tech companies.
by
Emma Roth
Sep 22, 2026, 4:34 PM UTC
Image: The Verge
Emma Roth
is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is creatingan “academy” positionedas a pipeline for young people to build or join a Silicon Valley startup. The “Horowitz Andreessen Academy” will launch with 10 partners, including Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe, along with $42 million in funding led by a16z. While billed as a “highly selective school,” it does not grant any degree or accreditation. Instead, students will attend short classes led by tech figureheads, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, as well as “co-ops” that give students roles at tech companies.
To partake in the one-year program, students will have to move to San Francisco and arrange their own housing,according to the academy’s FAQ page. Students are promised more than $50,000 in compute credits and a $5,000 travel and research budget offered by a16z. The announcement says they’ll have “no traditional grades, tests, or homework,” but will “learn from Silicon Valley’s most storied founders and operators in short, high-impact classes and spend the rest of your time working and exploring.”
The academy seems like the latest attempt by Silicon Valley’s billionaires to “fix” America’s education system by creating their own.Elon Musk,Mark Zuckerberg, andJeff Bezoshave all poured money into starting their own schools, while a16z foundersMarc Andreessenand Ben Horowitz havebeen critical of colleges. Last year, Andreessen reportedly called Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology “political lobbying operations fighting American innovation” in a group chat with White House officials and tech leaders,according toTheWashington Post.
The Horowitz Andreessen Academy will be free for its first one-year program in the fall of 2027. It will only accept 50 students and is designed mainly for recent high school graduates.
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