College without a degree? Silicon Valley giant creates school to challenge traditional universities

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of Silicon Valley's leading venture capital managers, has launched a private school that aims to offer an alternative to traditional universities. The initiative comes at a time when some of the elite in the United States technology sector question the value of a university degree.

The Horowitz Andreessen Academy (HAA) is backed by investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, founders of Andreessen Horowitz. The manager invests mainly in startups and technology companies with high growth potential, in exchange for a stake in these businesses.

“We believe this can be an elite institution, capable of attracting the best talent and preparing students for the future, instead of remaining stuck in the past,” Gagan Biyani, the institution’s CEO, wrote in X.

The school promises students lectures with executives and entrepreneurs from the technology sector, including Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; and Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber. The project received US$42 million (R$214.9 million) in investments.

Biyani explained that the program aims to replace predominantly theoretical classes with independent business-oriented projects. According to him, the model is closer to the Oxford University tutorial system or the Montessori method than to a conventional university.

The academy, however, will not have official accreditation or award diplomas to students. It will also not accept student aid from the US federal government or guarantee a paid job or internship, according to Fortune magazine.

Several prominent names in the technology sector dropped out of college before graduating, such as Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft; Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook; and Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple.

These trajectories are often cited in Silicon Valley as examples that a university degree would not be essential to create a successful company.

Registration is open for the first class, which will have around 50 students and start in September 2027. The program will last one year and will be free.

If it obtains approval from regulatory bodies, the academy intends to launch, in 2028, a paid version lasting two years and tuition fees comparable to those of elite private universities in the United States, according to Biyani.