Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism Fund has launched a new fellowship program aimed at introducing top engineers and technologists to venture investing, which could help the firm identify less obvious sources of VC talent.
The American Dynamism Fund was established in 2023 with the broad purpose of supporting companies that build national interests across hard technology sectors such as manufacturing, robotics, space, and defense. From A16Z's new $7.2 billion fund, approximately $600 million will be allocated to American His Dynamism.
During the 12-month American Dynamics Engineering Fellows program, approximately three engineers participate in an investment short course, during which fellows spend a year learning about venture investing and working with partners to develop investment possibilities. Evaluate and work on the fund's portfolio of industrial companies. At the end of the program, fellows may decide to join a company, join Portico, or even start their own company, which is “a win in every scenario,” says fund partner David. Ulevich said in a recent interview.
“We've always had a lot of technical people at this company, but in recent years the people who are really actively trying to get jobs at Andreessen Horowitz have tended to be the finance and banking people,” he said. Ta. “But we really want good engineers and people who think about the product and think about the future.”
However, this type of person may not think that investing or becoming a startup founder is necessarily for them. Urevich said the program was established as a structured way for technically minded people to explore career transitions.
“The question of how to attract engineers is something I've been thinking about for a long time,” he said. “This is a way of trying to cast a wider net because what we’re really looking for is not just inbound.”
“In investing, we often look for the least visible candidates,” he added.
It's pretty important that candidates have some commercial work experience, such as spending a few years at a startup, but standouts who are pursuing advanced degrees alongside strong commercial or personal projects may also be a good fit, Urevich said. Selected fellows should have expertise across hardware and software, and be excited about expanding American Dynamism's mission more broadly.
The American Dynamism team aims to have selected fellows based in either San Francisco or New York and run the fellowship each year. Program details and a link to apply can be found here.