Why Education Has to Change

Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg sit down with Gagan Biyani to introduce the Horowitz Andreessen Academy and discuss a bigger question: what should education look like when AI is rapidly changing the skills people need to build, work, and create? Ben and Gagan explain why they believe learning should be more focused on doing rather than studying about doing, with students building real projects, developing people skills, and working alongside companies and builders in San Francisco. The goal isn’t to replace college for everyone, but to create a different path for young people who already know they want to build. They also discuss why AI could make this an unusually powerful time to be young, how project-based learning changes when everyone has access to powerful tools, why failure can be valuable when it produces real learning, and what it takes to develop the judgment and people skills that can't simply be learned from a textbook. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:05 - Introducing Horowitz Andreessen Academy 15:26 - Why Experience Still Matters When It's So Easy to Build 23:18 - Why California: The Cultural & Intellectual Bastion 26:44 - Why Make Academy a Separate Company 28:45 - Why It Had to Be For-Profit: Making the Student the Customer 31:01 - Curiosity as the Core: From Push to Pull Learning 35:15 - People Skills: The Underrated Advantage in the AI Era 37:29 - What's Actually Worth Working On When You're 18 Today 40:34 - Five Years From Now: What Success Looks Like for Academy Resources: Follow Gagan Biyani on X: https://x.com/gaganbiyani Follow Ben Horowitz on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz Learn more about the Horowitz and Andreessen Academy: https://www.a16z.news/p/introducing-the-horowitz-andreessen Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.

Ben HorowitzhostErik TorenberghostGagan Biyaniguest

Sep 22, 202642mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: September 22, 2026
Duration: 42m
Channel: a16z
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg sit down with Gagan Biyani to introduce the Horowitz Andreessen Academy and discuss a bigger question: what should education look like when AI is rapidly changing the skills people need to build, work, and create? Ben and Gagan explain why they believe learning should be more focused on doing rather than studying about doing, with students building real projects, developing people skills, and working alongside companies and builders in San Francisco. The goal isn’t to replace college for everyone, but to create a different path for young people who already know they want to build. They also discuss why AI could make this an unusually powerful time to be young, how project-based learning changes when everyone has access to powerful tools, why failure can be valuable when it produces real learning, and what it takes to develop the judgment and people skills that can't simply be learned from a textbook. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:05 - Introducing Horowitz Andreessen Academy 15:26 - Why Experience Still Matters When It's So Easy to Build 23:18 - Why California: The Cultural & Intellectual Bastion 26:44 - Why Make Academy a Separate Company 28:45 - Why It Had to Be For-Profit: Making the Student the Customer 31:01 - Curiosity as the Core: From Push to Pull Learning 35:15 - People Skills: The Underrated Advantage in the AI Era 37:29 - What's Actually Worth Working On When You're 18 Today 40:34 - Five Years From Now: What Success Looks Like for Academy Resources: Follow Gagan Biyani on X: https://x.com/gaganbiyani Follow Ben Horowitz on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz Learn more about the Horowitz and Andreessen Academy: https://www.a16z.news/p/introducing-the-horowitz-andreessen Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.

SPEAKERS

Ben Horowitz
host
Co-founder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), author and longtime Silicon Valley operator/investor.
Erik Torenberg
host
a16z partner and podcast host/interviewer who moderates discussions and leads episode framing.
Gagan Biyani
guest
Entrepreneur (co-founder of Udemy and Maven) and builder involved in launching the Horowitz & Andreessen Academy.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of a16z, featuring Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg, Why Education Has to Change explores a16z launches a builder-focused academy to reinvent education for AI Horowitz Andreessen Academy (HAA) is introduced as a new, non-degree program designed to train “builders” for an AI-transformed world where traditional college pathways can be costly and misaligned with fast-changing skills.

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