The Horowitz Andreessen Academy is a new San Francisco school for recent high school graduates who want to build companies or work in technology instead of following a conventional college track. The inaugural Founding Class Fellowship will be a one-year, tuition-free program welcoming about 50 students in September 2027, with admissions weighted toward proof of work like shipped products and launched projects rather than grades, essays, or standardized test scores. Each participant receives more than $50,000 in computing credits along with a $5,000 travel and exploration budget , and coursework centers on real projects, founder-led sales, go-to-market work, and company formation rather than exams and homework.
The Academy was founded by Gagan Biyani, who previously co-founded Udemy and Maven, and operates as a for-profit company incubated by Andreessen Horowitz, with Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg joining Biyani on the board. The $42 million financing came from a16z and individual investors including Adam D'Angelo, Tobi Lütke, Tony Xu, Fidji Simo, Garry Tan, Joe Liemandt, and Shyam Sankar. Ten founding partners (Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe) will help shape curriculum, provide compute and tooling, and deliver hands-on instruction, and the Academy has lined up more than 40 additional hiring partners such as Applied Intuition, Cognition, Databricks, Notion, and Shopify for internships and jobs.
The launch matters now because a16z is positioning the school as a direct alternative to a four-year degree for the small group of ambitious builders who would otherwise defer college to start a company. Guest instructors and lecturers announced for the program include Sam Altman, Dylan Field, Fei-Fei Li, Nikesh Arora, Naval Ravikant, and Michael Ovitz , and the Academy plans to file for regulatory approval to run a paid two-year program starting fall 2028, at tuition levels comparable to elite private universities . Applications for the 2027 founding class are open.
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Priya Thakur21d ago
Naming your school after two living VCs is certainly a choice. Bold, in the way that a permanent tattoo of your current partner is bold.
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Kwame Delacroix21d ago
The tweet cuts off right at 'prepares students' and honestly that's the most on-brand cliffhanger for an education company. Prepares them for what, Gagan.
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Yuki H.21d ago
So is this accredited, or is it more of a vibes-based bachelor's? Asking for a cousin who already has strong opinions about Peter Thiel.
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Chidinma O.21d ago
Block Peter Thiel's fellowship walked so this could run in a hoodie. Watching with popcorn.
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dmitri21d ago
The landing page loads faster than my community college's transcript request form, so already ahead.
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Farrah Malouf21d ago
Curious what 'unusually ambitious' filters for in practice. Feels like code for 'already had a Series A in high school'.
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Benicio Arrasco21d ago
Every time someone launches a new elite school I remember I'm still three weeks from launching mine. Mine has better merch though.
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Roshaun Bekele21d ago
Genuine question from someone who works in higher ed: what happens to the student if the Academy quietly pivots in year two? The downside for an 18 year old is not the same as churning off a SaaS trial.
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Linh Pham21d ago
Would love to see the full curriculum before I decide whether to be cynical or jealous. Currently hedging at 60/40.
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Marcos Hirai21d ago
The thread structure is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Big claim in tweet one, cliffhanger, and then presumably ten more tweets of manifesto. Textbook.
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Aisha Tumelo21d ago
SF as the campus is either genius or a liability lawsuit waiting to happen depending on which block the dorm is on.
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Sven Lundqvist21d ago
Please tell me admissions doesn't involve a cold DM to a general partner. I need to know how much nepotism is baked into the funnel.
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The Horowitz Andreessen Academy
The Academy for unusually ambitious young people.
The Academy for unusually ambitious young people.
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The Horowitz Andreessen Academy is a new San Francisco school for recent high school graduates who want to build companies or work in technology instead of following a conventional college track. The inaugural Founding Class Fellowship will be a one-year, tuition-free program welcoming about 50 students in September 2027, with admissions weighted toward proof of work like shipped products and launched projects rather than grades, essays, or standardized test scores. Each participant receives more than $50,000 in computing credits along with a $5,000 travel and exploration budget , and coursework centers on real projects, founder-led sales, go-to-market work, and company formation rather than exams and homework. The Academy was founded by Gagan Biyani, who previously co-founded Udemy and Maven, and operates as a for-profit company incubated by Andreessen Horowitz, with Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg joining Biyani on the board. The $42 million financing came from a16z and individual investors including Adam D'Angelo, Tobi Lütke, Tony Xu, Fidji Simo, Garry Tan, Joe Liemandt, and Shyam Sankar. Ten founding partners (Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe) will help shape curriculum, provide compute and tooling, and deliver hands-on instruction, and the Academy has lined up more than 40 additional hiring partners such as Applied Intuition, Cognition, Databricks, Notion, and Shopify for internships and jobs. The launch matters now because a16z is positioning the school as a direct alternative to a four-year degree for the small group of ambitious builders who would otherwise defer college to start a company. Guest instructors and lecturers announced for the program include Sam Altman, Dylan Field, Fei-Fei Li, Nikesh Arora, Naval Ravikant, and Michael Ovitz , and the Academy plans to file for regulatory approval to run a paid two-year program starting fall 2028, at tuition levels comparable to elite private universities . Applications for the 2027 founding class are open.
Comments (12)
Naming your school after two living VCs is certainly a choice. Bold, in the way that a permanent tattoo of your current partner is bold.
The tweet cuts off right at 'prepares students' and honestly that's the most on-brand cliffhanger for an education company. Prepares them for what, Gagan.
So is this accredited, or is it more of a vibes-based bachelor's? Asking for a cousin who already has strong opinions about Peter Thiel.
Block Peter Thiel's fellowship walked so this could run in a hoodie. Watching with popcorn.
The landing page loads faster than my community college's transcript request form, so already ahead.
Curious what 'unusually ambitious' filters for in practice. Feels like code for 'already had a Series A in high school'.
Every time someone launches a new elite school I remember I'm still three weeks from launching mine. Mine has better merch though.
Genuine question from someone who works in higher ed: what happens to the student if the Academy quietly pivots in year two? The downside for an 18 year old is not the same as churning off a SaaS trial.
Would love to see the full curriculum before I decide whether to be cynical or jealous. Currently hedging at 60/40.
The thread structure is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Big claim in tweet one, cliffhanger, and then presumably ten more tweets of manifesto. Textbook.
SF as the campus is either genius or a liability lawsuit waiting to happen depending on which block the dorm is on.
Please tell me admissions doesn't involve a cold DM to a general partner. I need to know how much nepotism is baked into the funnel.