a16z(@a16z):HAA CEO Gagan Biyani and Replit CEO Amjad Masad on the simplest way to learn anything: build something you actually want with it. Gagan: "If you're going to learn coding at the academy, I don't want you just to take a class on Python. Go build something that you're super excited about in Python. Use it as a tool to learn the language." "The great thing about today, with AI, is every single student can go and do that on their own." "They don't need a customized syllabus or exercise given to them. They just need the freedom and confidence to say, 'Yes, you're allowed to do this. We're super excited about it.'" Amjad: "The buzzword for it is project-based learning. There shouldn't be a buzzword for it because that should be the standard." "The idea that you're learning something and you don't know the utility of it is a very modern invention, and it's a very weird thing to have done in society." "For someone like me, and I think for a lot of people that are more pragmatically minded, I'm not motivated at all by the pure pursuit of knowledge. I'm motivated by skills. What skills can it give me in order to achieve what I want to build and achieve my dreams?" @gaganbiyani @amasad

2026.09.23 20:30

HAA CEO Gagan Biyani and Replit CEO Amjad Masad on the simplest way to learn anything: build something you actually want with it. Gagan: "If you're going to learn coding at the academy, I don't want you just to take a class on Python. Go build something that you're super excited about in Python. Use it as a tool to learn the language." "The great thing about today, with AI, is every single student can go and do that on their own." "They don't need a customized syllabus or exercise given to them. They just need the freedom and confidence to say, 'Yes, you're allowed to do this. We're super excited about it.'" Amjad: "The buzzword for it is project-based learning. There shouldn't be a buzzword for it because that should be the standard." "The idea that you're learning something and you don't know the utility of it is a very modern invention, and it's a very weird thing to have done in society." "For someone like me, and I think for a lot of people that are more pragmatically minded, I'm not motivated at all by the pure pursuit of knowledge. I'm motivated by skills. What skills can it give me in order to achieve what I want to build and achieve my dreams?" @gaganbiyani @amasad

a16z@a16z

2026.09.23 15:05

Amjad Masad with Gagan Biyani and Erik Torenberg on HAA: The Horowitz Andreessen Academy The ideal education today is a place with room to meander, a space to go heads-down when you’re obsessed, alongside unconventional peers. Gagan sees it in every student he meets: the interesting thing they're building is happening outside class, unsupported. Amjad got really into chess and it evolved into a whole product line. The thesis behind HAA is side quests shouldn't be on the side. No grades, no tests. Trust is the design principle - Silicon Valley runs on it, so why not apply it to students? Empower ambitious young people to run with the ideas that have real gravity they can’t avoid. "Young people should be heretics… We respect the past, but we're unapologetically going to change it." 1:03 Why young people should be heretics 5:35 Amjad designs his ideal college 8:45 Side quests deserve more resources 10:55 Don't take a Python class 14:30 College vs. raising money at 18 17:15 Most teen startups are premature optimization 18:30 "I tried not to start Replit" 19:40 How a chess hobby became a Replit product 24:25 The self-driving company 26:30 Respect the past, change it anyway 28:50 What Oakland politics taught Gagan about trust 31:50 Why trust works better than rules 36:35 The positive-sum culture HAA wants to pass on 39:20 Speaking to the world vs. speaking to the in-group 41:05 How Amjad found his moral compass 44:00 What Amjad looks for in young talent YouTube: @amasad @gaganbiyani @eriktorenberg

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