a16z Speedrun Alpha Founder Fellowship
- Organization: a16z speedrun
- Type: Fellowship
- Location: United States
- Deadline: October 11, 2026
- Funding: Partially Funded
The Alpha Fellowship is run by speedrun, the startup programme of the venture firm a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), in partnership with Equal Opportunity Ventures. It backs highly technical students, dropouts and recent graduates at the earliest possible moment, sometimes before they have an idea, a team or a company. Fellows spend the programme in person in San Francisco, and choose between a Founder Track, which invests in the company you start, and a Talent Track, which fast-tracks engineers into roles at speedrun portfolio startups. **What you get:** - Founder Track: up to $250,000 of investment. This is equity funding, not a grant: speedrun invests $150,000 for 5 percent of your company on a SAFE, plus $100,000 in your next round within 18 months - Founder Track: over $1 million in cloud, AI and software credits across AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor and others - Founder Track: an automatic final interview for speedrun, a16z's programme investing up to $1 million - Talent Track: four weeks embedded in the speedrun community, direct introductions to fast-growing portfolio startups, and the chance to be hired by one where there is a mutual fit - Both tracks: coworking space at the speedrun office in North Beach, San Francisco, three days a week for the length of the programme - Both tracks: office hours and small-group sessions with speedrun partners, curated dinners with engineering leaders and portfolio founders, and invitations to select speedrun events - No stipend, housing or travel: the organisation states that fellows are not compensated for their time in the fellowship **What you'll do:** - Founder Track: an eight-week, in-person programme in San Francisco from January 11 to March 5, opening with a retreat where fellows meet one another and the speedrun team, then working full time on your own idea - Talent Track: a four-week, in-person programme in San Francisco from February 8 to March 5, meeting speedrun portfolio companies and working on hands-on projects with them - Weekly small-group sessions with speedrun partners and industry leaders, plus social events across the cohort - Both tracks close with fellows presenting their work to the speedrun community **Key dates:** - Applications close October 11, 2026 - Selected applicants complete a series of live interviews - Founder Track runs January 11 to March 5, 2027, in San Francisco - Talent Track runs February 8 to March 5, 2027, in San Francisco **More information:** - Full investment terms, work-authorisation rule and track details in the FAQ on the official programme page - The organisation estimates around 40 fellows in total across both tracks - You can apply to both tracks and speedrun will help you decide which fits - Applying to the general speedrun talent network does not enter you for Alpha; it has its own application
