Horowitz Andreessen Academy CEO Gagan Biyani explains why AI-focused programs are betting on builders over traditional academic credentials.
An artificial intelligence-focused academy backed by venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz believes a new generation of tech workers can better serve building products and companies than following a traditional four-year college path.
The Andreessen Horowitz Academy, a private and private program in San Francisco, is recruiting approximately 50 students for a free Founding Class Fellowship starting in the fall of 2027. The academy is incubated by Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, which invested $35 million to start, according to the school. In 2028, pending regulatory approval, it will offer a two-year program and expect to charge tuition similar to “elite private universities.”
Gagan Biyani, founder and CEO of the Horowitz Andreessen Academy and co-founder of the online learning platform Udemy, told FOX Business the program shows a “massive shift” in what modern companies need and what is possible in education.
The academy comes at a time when recent college graduates face a tough job market.
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Ben Horowitz, left, Gagan Biyani, center, and Erik Torenberg, right, are pictured together at the Andreessen Horowitz Academy in San Francisco. (Courtesy Horowitz Andreessen Academy)
The unemployment rate among recent college graduates aged 22 to 27 will be around 5.6% in the second quarter of 2026, while about 42% are unemployed, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The bank considers college graduates unemployed when they work in jobs that typically don’t require a college degree.
Still, broader federal data show a college education continues to bring significant economic benefits.
Workers age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree earned an average weekly salary of $1,578 in 2025 and had an unemployment rate of 2.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers with only a high school diploma earn $966 per week and have an unemployment rate of 4.3%.
The academy’s alternative focuses on what Biyani calls “proof of work.”
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Gagan Biyani, founder and CEO of Horowitz Andreessen Academy, works with students at the AI-focused academy in San Francisco. (Courtesy Horowitz Andreessen Academy)
“We’re looking for students who have proof of work. So proof of work is students who have spent time during their high school careers actually building things and sending them out into the world,” he said.
Biyani said that could include building an app with hundreds of thousands or millions of users, starting a profitable business or solving a difficult technical problem.
The school said its founding partners include Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit and Stripe. Biyani told FOX Business the academy formed partnerships with more than 50 companies before its launch.
| Ticker | Security | Finally | Change it | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALPHABET INC. | 351.66 | +3.37 |
+0.97% |
|
| META | META PLATFORMS INC. | 718.67 | -2.22 |
-0.31% |
| NVDA | NVIDIA CORP. | 229.28 | -1.20 |
-0.52% |
“Before we even launched, we created a partnership with more than 50 companies that are all name brands, some of the highest level companies in Silicon Valley and others. And they all did not hesitate, essentially, to say that they would hire academy graduates,” said Biyani.
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Gagan Biyani, founder and CEO of Horowitz Andreessen Academy, works with students during a collaborative session at the San Francisco academy. (Courtesy Horowitz Andreessen Academy)
Biyani asserts that artificial intelligence is changing the value attributes of employers. The academy will emphasize using AI to build products alongside human skills such as selling and public speaking, as well as what Biyani describes as ambition and “high agency.”
But Biyani said the model should not be interpreted as a rejection of traditional universities, which he described as some of the world’s most important institutions for research and human development.
However, he said it can be highly structured for the specific students the academy is targeting.
“We believe that many institutions are very structured. And they are structured in the wrong direction. So, tests, degrees, problems that are like solutions to problems that no longer exist, knowing that someone with knowledge is no longer the biggest problem that employers have in AI,” he said.
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College students attend lectures in class. (iStock)
Biyani says employers are increasingly interested in whether applicants can create products, work effectively with others and deliver results.
The academy does not abandon traditional academic measures. Biyani said admissions officials will consider high school transcripts and SAT or ACT scores, though “proof of employment” will get greater emphasis.
Asked how an 18-year-old deciding between Stanford University and an academy should weigh the options, Biyani said it depends on the student’s goals.
“I think if you want to go to academia, Stanford is probably one of the best places on earth to go to. But if you want to go and get a job or start a company, we think the academy is more appropriate,” he said.
Biyani emphasized that the academy is aimed at a narrow group of students rather than as a substitute for higher education.
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“This academy is only built for a small, small part of students. It is not designed to change the whole system, right? We are pro university system. We think some updates should be made, but our goal is only to serve 50 students for the first cohort, and then maybe we will serve some 100,” he said.
The first class will provide an initial test of whether a model that emphasizes what students can do through the credentials they earn will yield the work the founders envisioned.