Horowitz Andreessen Academy: A Build-First Idea Campuses Can Already Run

a16z's new academy bets on learning by building. It is an idea NELL has been bringing into coursework for some time. Here is how any campus can run it now.

Horowitz Andreessen Academy: A Build-First Idea Campuses Can Already Run

Students and Universities

a16z's new academy bets on learning by building. It is an idea NELL has been bringing into coursework for some time. Here is how any campus can run it now.

NELL AI Labs · For students and universities

Build-first learning, on every campus.

Real projects, real users and a founder path, inside the degree a student already has.

Bring it to your campus

On September 22, 2026, Andreessen Horowitz announced the Horowitz Andreessen Academy , a full-time, in-person school in San Francisco for young people coming out of high school. The announcement opens with one line worth reading twice:

It is a line we recognise. Learning by building, rather than by collecting credentials, is the idea NELL's student and university programs have been built around for some time, and it is good to see it reach a wider audience. This post looks at what the Academy sets out to do, and how any campus can offer students the same kind of experience without a move to San Francisco.

The Horowitz Andreessen Academy (HAA) is a residential program in San Francisco for young builders aged 16 to 22, backed by a16z. According to the launch release , it is a two-year program, and applications are open for its first class.

The student experience has three parts:

Because the gap between learning and doing is closing, and the institutions that close it will produce the strongest builders. When anyone can produce working software with AI, a certificate stops being rare. What stays rare is a student who found a real problem, shipped something for it and can show what real people did with it.

The Academy's announcement also describes college as “a low-stakes environment to test not just ideas but collaborators.” It is a point we have long worked from. Universities already have that environment. What most lack is a structure that turns a group project into a shipped product with evidence behind it.

That structure is what NELL has been building with students and campuses.

Most of it does not need a new institution. It needs every student to end the term with a real project, real user evidence and the fundamentals to explain both, which is what NELL's programs have been set up to do.

The same ingredients, on any campus

Each part has a campus version a student can do this term, and NELL runs each one today.

Students build in the tools they already use. NELL writes the build brief in each tool's own format, for example CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, AGENTS.md for Codex or .cursorrules for Cursor. The brief also names the parts a student must write themselves, so they understand their own project. The repository and the accounts stay theirs.

NELL fits wherever a course already asks for a project. It turns that project into something with users and evidence behind it.

Five stages. Each one produces something the student keeps, and the first three cost nothing to start.

From coursework to company, one path

Each stage produces something a student keeps: evidence, a product, a record.

A live curriculum the NELL team teaches with a university cohort over one term. Every week produces a named deliverable, and grading is on execution discipline.

One term, one idea per team, twelve deliverables

Two halves, two assessed milestones.

Idea lock, then ICP validation through 5+ real buyer conversations. Build spec, GTM motion, prototype, first outreach.

Proof pack, objection drills, compliance map, a proposal or LOI they send, one week of pipeline only, then the pitch.

We make no revenue promises, and no grade depends on one. A signed pilot, a well-evidenced “almost” and a carefully documented dead end can all earn an A. After the term, teams that want to keep going get go-to-market operations support at a discounted student rate. The curriculum is priced per cohort.

Proof, not a certificate. The Student Playbook's completion standard has nine criteria, and six are counted from records kept as the work happened.

The completion record

6 of 9 criteria are counted from records kept as the work happened, not self-reported. Among them:

That record is what a professor can grade, an employer can check and a grant panel can trust.

The Horowitz Andreessen Academy is a two-year, in-person program in San Francisco for young builders aged 16 to 22, launched by Andreessen Horowitz on September 22, 2026. Students combine co-ops at technology companies, courses taught by founders and investors, and personal projects called Pursuits.

Yes, in large part. The parts that travel are a real project, real users and the fundamentals behind the build. NELL has been bringing those into existing coursework through the Student Playbook, and to whole cohorts through the 12-Week Venture Execution Curriculum.

Start from a problem you know from your own field, test it before you build, and ship the smallest version that solves it. NELL's Student Playbook turns that into a one-term plan with a weekly schedule that fits around exams. The first Playbook is free.

A student's first Playbook is free with no card required. IdeaBank briefs, Quick Validate and refining an existing Playbook also stay free. Further Playbooks come in small one-time packs, not a subscription.

No. NELL writes the build brief and the student builds it in their own tool, such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Replit, Lovable, Bolt or v0. The brief names the parts the student must write themselves, and the repository stays theirs.

Through the 12-Week Venture Execution Curriculum, which is priced per cohort. Professors, department heads, career services teams and student club leaders can enquire through the university program page . Every student in the cohort gets the full NELL toolkit for the term.

No. NELL AI Labs is independent. We wrote this because learning by building is the idea our student and university programs have long been built around.

The Academy will take one founding class. Every campus already has students with the same drive, and they should not need to move to get the chance to build. NELL has been giving students that chance, and would be glad to do it on your campus.

NELL AI Labs is independent and is not affiliated with Andreessen Horowitz or the Horowitz Andreessen Academy. Names are used only to describe and reference their public announcement.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Horowitz Andreessen Academy?

Can students learn this way without going to San Francisco?

How can a university student start a startup while studying?

Is NELL free for students?

Does NELL build the project for the student?

How do universities bring NELL to a cohort?

Through the 12-Week Venture Execution Curriculum, which is priced per cohort. Professors, department heads, career services teams and student club leaders can enquire through the university program page. Every student in the cohort gets the full NELL toolkit for the term.

Is NELL affiliated with Andreessen Horowitz or the Horowitz Andreessen Academy?

No. NELL AI Labs is independent. We wrote this because learning by building is the idea our student and university programs have long been built around.