a16z(@a16z):Ben Horowitz on an alternative path for young people: finish high school, spend a year learning about a field of interest, then let the work teach the rest. "The world has really changed, warfare has changed, power has changed, economics have changed... And there's not a constant refresh of the knowledge." "Arguably a better system is, you finish your 12 years of education in elementary and high school, then you maybe get a year that bridges you to knowledge in a field you want to go into... and then go from there." "For most college students, probably over 95% of college students are there to prepare themselves for the workforce. And a four-year degree to do that seems a little misplaced in a world where the rate of change is so high." @bhorowitz (2024)

2026.09.23 22:15

Ben Horowitz on an alternative path for young people: finish high school, spend a year learning about a field of interest, then let the work teach the rest. "The world has really changed, warfare has changed, power has changed, economics have changed... And there's not a constant refresh of the knowledge." "Arguably a better system is, you finish your 12 years of education in elementary and high school, then you maybe get a year that bridges you to knowledge in a field you want to go into... and then go from there." "For most college students, probably over 95% of college students are there to prepare themselves for the workforce. And a four-year degree to do that seems a little misplaced in a world where the rate of change is so high." @bhorowitz (2024)

a16z@a16z

2026.09.22 23:00

Sam Altman on one of the highest-return years of his career: no job, exploring his interests, and a lot of people who were nice enough to teach him things. "I read many dozens of textbooks. I learned about fields that I had been interested in. I didn't have any idea that they were all gonna come together in the way they did." "I learned a lot about nuclear engineering. AI was starting to work, so I learned a lot about AI. I learned about synthetic biology. I learned about investing." " I met people that were working on all sorts of different things who were nice enough to talk to me." "If I met someone interesting and it seemed good and needed help, I would just help them. And they would teach me stuff, or they would offer me the chance to invest in their startup later." "Out of all of it, almost all of it didn't work out. But the seeds were planted for things that worked in deep ways later." @sama w/ @CraigCannon (Nov 2018)