a16z Launches New School in SF | Gagan Biyani & Erik Torenberg

Gagan Biyani (0:00)

It used to be, and actually I have a really good quote from Ben on this. Ben's like, it used to be that you had to go to the building on the hill to get the books. You know what I mean? I was like, I don't know what you're talking about, Ben. But today, do you even need to leave your bedroom to get access to almost 100% of what was in that library? The answer is no.

At the same time, if you look at the way that we educate in this country, and really across the globe, we still treat it exactly the same.

Erik Torenberg (0:33)

There are three things that to me make the Academy different.

One is this co-op model with a focus on Silicon Valley companies. Two, no grades, no tests, but you get to learn from the best practitioners in the world. But the third thing we call pursuits, or the space to get to pursue whatever you're passionate about, whatever you're curious about and take it to its logical conclusion with the help of lecturers, mentors who could help you get there.

Theo (0:59)

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to MTS. Today is an exciting day. I am joined live by Gagan Biyani, who is the co-founder of Udemy and Maven, and now the founder and CEO of the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, and also joining us is Erik Torenberg, who is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Today, they just announced the new Horowitz Andreessen Academy. This is a newly highly selective school in San Francisco for the most ambitious young builders.

Gagan, Erik, welcome to MTS.

Gagan Biyani (1:29)

Thanks for having us.

Erik Torenberg (1:29)

It's an honor to be here.

Theo (1:30)

I know. This is an exciting day. I know you've done eight of these interviews. This is your first one. Erik, I wanted to get your perspective. This is an exciting time. It's 2026

Why now? Why launch a university in 2026? Why not a decade ago? What's unique about this time period?

Erik Torenberg (1:45)

Well, people have been trying to and wanting to for a long time. Even when Teal came out with the Teal Fellowship 20 years ago, people had an understanding of, hey, these institutions aren't really preparing these students for the working world. Or I should say, there's a little bit of a gap between what people need in the working world and what just any education institutions can provide because things are happening so fast. And with AI, that just is amplified, orders of magnitude more. And so just the resources that people have at their disposal, the tools, the networks that young people can start now, they don't have to memorize a ton of bodies of knowledge to be impactful in the working world. We just thought that, hey, the opportunity is urgent, is immediate, but sometimes it's not even, maybe this could have worked 10 years ago, but it takes a group of people that are willing to do things and it starts to align. And Gagan and I, we almost partnered on something in 2019 or 2021, like a few years ago, and it didn't quite align. We were close, but it didn't quite align. And I actually give Gagan a lot of props. I think this is a meta example of what makes Silicon Valley so great, is sometimes when people, we co-founded, dated, and it didn't work out, and sometimes people are like, screw that guy or whatever. We remained friends and collaborators and allies. And now, five years later, with the help of Andreessen Horowitz, not Horowitz Andreessen, the stars have aligned. And so, sometimes it's just this, the opportunity is there, but it just takes the right ingredients. Ben and Mark separately wanted to do this for years.

And they needed me and I needed Gagan. We all needed each other to make this possible.

Theo (3:26)

That's pretty interesting. And Gagan, you have a very interesting background and a particularly useful background for what's actually being announced today. I'm curious to get your perspective on education as a whole. How has it changed and why is launching a new type of college necessary?

Gagan Biyani (3:42)

Yeah, I mean, I think everything's changed and not enough has changed, really, honestly. Like, I mean, everything has changed in the sense that the way that students, whether they be K-12 or higher education students, interact with school, it's literally like night and day from what it was like even when I was in school 20 years ago. And certainly when these schools were invented, you know, or industrialized, industrialization is probably in the 1960s or so, you know, so and then invented, you know, whatever, a thousand years ago. So like, and the things that have changed are the access to knowledge and the value that can be provided by an institution. So, you know, it used to be, and actually I have a really good quote from Ben on this. Ben's like, it used to be that you had to go to the building on the hill to get the books. You know what I mean? I was like, I don't know what you're talking about, but like, but he's right, you know.