Andreessen Horowitz is launching an “academy” with no homework and partnerships with Palantir, Google, and Meta

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is creating an “academy” it presents as a pipeline for young people who want to build or join a Silicon Valley startup. The Horowitz Andreessen Academy launches with ten corporate partners — Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe — and $42 million in funding led by a16z itself.

Short classes, co-ops, and no degree

Although the academy is billed as a “highly selective school,” it will not grant a degree or any form of accreditation. Instead, students attend short classes taught by well-known technology figures, among them OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, and take part in “co-ops” that give them roles at tech companies.

Organizers say there will be “no traditional grades, tests, or homework.” The promise is that students 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.”

San Francisco, compute credits, and $5,000

The program lasts one year, and according to the academy’s FAQ page, students must move to San Francisco and arrange their own housing. In return, a16z promises more than $50,000 in compute credits and a $5,000 travel and research budget.

The first one-year program, in the fall of 2027, will be free. Only 50 students will be accepted, and the academy is designed mainly for recent high school graduates.

Part of a wider pattern

The academy continues a series of attempts by Silicon Valley’s wealthiest figures to build their own alternatives to the American education system. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos have all put money into founding schools, while a16z’s own founders, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, have repeatedly criticized universities.

According to The Washington Post, Andreessen last year described Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as “political lobbying operations fighting American innovation” in a group chat that included White House officials and technology leaders.