What to know about the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, Silicon Valley’s $42 million AI-era college alternative

Silicon Valley has long celebrated the college dropout. Now some of its biggest names are backing an educational institution of their own.

The Horowitz Andreessen Academy has raised $42 million and recruited prominent tech figures as instructors, guest speakers, and mentors.

Venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, better known as A16z, is backing the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a new for-profit school for young people interested in building companies, products, and emerging technologies.

Its network includes executives and founders from OpenAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, and Stripe.

The San Francisco academy will trade degrees, traditional grades, and lecture-heavy coursework for independent projects, short classes, and work placements at technology companies.

Its tuition-free founding class is due to arrive in 2027, but the school’s longer-term plan is to charge fees comparable to an elite private university.

What is it and where is it?

The academy is a full-time, in-person, for-profit educational program in San Francisco aimed primarily at recent high-school graduates.

Its first offering, the Founding Class Fellowship, is a one-year program scheduled to begin in September 2027 with about 50 students. The academy won’t initially award degrees or grant college credit and isn’t accredited, making it a college alternative rather than a university.

The program is organized around courses, co-ops, or structured work placements at participating technology companies, and “pursuits,” its term for self-directed projects. Students will spend September through April at the San Francisco campus, travel abroad in May, and complete co-ops from June through August, according to the academy’s website.

The school has not disclosed the precise location of its campus. Its founders say San Francisco itself is part of the appeal, pointing to its concentration of technology companies, investors, research labs, and startup founders.

Gagan Biyani, a cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy, is the academy’s CEO. Marc Andreessen and fellow A16z partner Erik Torenberg sit on its board.

How do I apply, and how much does it cost?

Applications are open online via a form on the website. The early deadline is November 5, 2026, with decisions due by late January 2027. The regular deadline is January 15, after which applications may be considered on a rolling basis if places remain.

Applicants must have completed high school or an equivalent qualification by August 2027. Current college students may apply, but they cannot have completed more than one year of full-time college after high school.

Applicants must submit a portfolio website showing what they have built, a short video, test scores, and a high-school transcript. The academy says admission will be weighted heavily toward “proof of work” rather than grades.

The inaugural fellowship has no tuition. Students must, however, arrange and pay for their housing, meals, and other living expenses in San Francisco. Some need-based assistance may be available.

Participants will receive more than $50,000 in computing credits and a $5,000 travel and research budget.

The academy intends to introduce a two-year paid program in 2028, subject to regulatory approval, with tuition comparable to that of an elite private university.

Who’s teaching?

The academy’s roster is a major part of its appeal, though anyone expecting to get Sam Altman or Jensen Huang as a full time professor may be disappointed.

While both are listed on the academy’s website, they won’t be teaching regular classes.

Andreessen is listed as an instructor for “The Next Platform Shift,” while Ben Horowitz is on the roster for “Leading Through the Hard Things.”

Altman, by contrast, is billed as a guest speaker, although he is ‘featured’ in the track named “AI Products & Platforms.”

The wider network ranges from technology executives, including Nvidia CEO Huang and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, to figures from other fields, such as actor and writer B.J. Novak.

Its subject tracks are similarly eclectic: an AI program features Fei-Fei Li and Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, while other pathways involve neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, longevity entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, former UK government advisor Dominic Cummings, and former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

Those names sit alongside an extensive corporate network. Ten founding partners, including OpenAI, Google, Meta, Nvidia, Palantir, and Anduril, will help shape the curriculum and provide resources.

A broader group of hiring partners, including Databricks, Kraken, and Flock Safety, may consider students for internships and full-time roles.

An ‘epic’ opportunity or the latest college alternative doomed to fail?

Early reactions on X ranged from enthusiasm about new educational options to those who saw it as unnecessary, potentially overpriced, and even doomed to fail.

Supporters praised the opportunities available to young people. Entrepreneur Jesse Genet called them “epic.”

While another user predicted that admission to the academy could soon become a stronger signal of talent than a four-year degree.

Skeptics questioned both the model and its potential cost. Writer and journalist Corey Walker predicted that the academy would fail like other college alternatives.

Another user argued that AI has made it easier and cheaper than ever to build products from home, making an in-person academy charging private-university prices seem unnecessary.