a16z’s new academy wants to be the anti-college for aspiring tech founders

For a long time, becoming a successful tech CEO seemed to be inexplicably linked to dropping out of college. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs famously did so, followed by some of today’s most notable leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman. But a new project announced by venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is offering a new alternative to college: an academy for recent high school graduates looking for a non-traditional next step in their educational experience. Launched on Sept. 22, the Horowitz Andreessen Academy (aka the Academy) is an unaccredited private, full-time, in-person school based in San Francisco for students aged 18-22 looking to start their own ventures and develop new technologies. The Academy has raised $42 million to date, with funding led by a16z and investors including C-suite from Shopify, DoorDash, Palantir, and Alpha School. Applications are already open for The Academy’s founding class, with the first year’s tuition said to be free for students. According to the Academy CEO Gagan Biyani, the school will then offer the two-year program for “similar in cost to an elite private university.” In contrast to traditional higher education models, the A…