The Courage to Continue
Reflections from a Semi-Finalist for Yale’s Prospect Fellowship: On Uncertainty, the Future, and Winston Churchill
If you’d like to listen to a podcast overview of this piece, check out the NotebookLM recording here.
This November, I was selected as one of approximately 40 semi-finalists for Yale’s Prospect Fellowship. When I read about the first-of-its-kind emerging manager program, it felt, as Winston Churchill once said, like being “figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to [your] talents.”1 I wasn’t alone in that feeling; around 2,000 people applied. I deeply resonated with the chance to learn from one of the premier university endowment LPs, arguably the best in history,2 while working to build a transformative firm (plus $25M to boot!).
Around the same time, I started reading Churchill’s biography in an attempt to gain clarity on perseverance during moments of uncertainty. I’ve long believed that to understand the future, you must study the past. When Churchill gazed out over a London engulfed in flames and shrouded in smoke in early 1941, he was running out of options; nearly all neighboring country allies had fallen under Hitler’s rule, and many of Churchill’s colleagues –fearful of bombings, uncertainty, and defeat– urged Britain to negotiate with Germany. But Churchill correctly believed the fate of the free world was at stake. Unswayed, he cast his gaze across the Atlantic, toward the one ally that could alter the course of history: the United States.3
Weeks into my Churchillian studies, and just days before Christmas with my family in California, I learned that I didn’t end up getting the fellowship.
It was disappointing—a feeling all too familiar to founders and GPs—but the rejection also, somehow, sharpened my resolve. My belief in next-generation, early-stage venture funds—and in Type Capital—remains steadfast. Alas, one still wonders, what lies ahead?
In Churchill’s case, we know the rest of the story. The war raged on, and Pearl Harbor ignited the U.S. allyship Churchill so desperately sought. Interestingly in 1943, 81 years before the Prospect Fellowship, Yale University opened an aviation school established by the Air Force; a de facto military training base where 20,000 cadets were trained.4
I don’t know the rest of my story. I’ve often wondered: did the greats of history realize they were destined for something beyond their wildest imaginations? I like to believe that knowing is deep, constant, and apparent, but I know we are all human, subject to the woes of the inconsistent human spirit. As such, the path to freedom and success is never as clear as one would want.
As Type Capital marches into 2025, we’re building our own momentum—a pipeline of events, partnerships, and team developments that reflect our commitment to shaping the future. Our dev team is hard at work building an in-house CRM to fully own and leverage our data. Like Churchill, we’re trying to write our own history, carefully approaching the allies who will shape it alongside us. We remain focused and resolute, aware of the stakes for the founders we serve.
In the end, a single decision –positive or negative– doesn’t really matter. Churchill said it best: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Terri Burns
Type Capital
P.S. While I have many folks to thank for their support, I’d like to give a special thank you to Josh Kushner, Mike Smith, and Andrew Gregory for their support of my fellowship candidacy. Onwards.
P.P.S. Below is my favorite question, and my response from the Yale Prospect Fellowship Application:
Does your firm have a name? Why did you choose it?
My firm’s name, Type Capital, carries multiple layers of significance. At its core, the action of typing reflects our fundamental interaction with technology and software; the very foundation on which innovation is built. Just as Yale’s Investment website extends an open invitation to “investors of all types,” we welcome founders of a particular ‘Type.’ Founders that meet the standard we hold ourselves to: hungry for growth, delusionally ambitious, not chasing trends or accolades, and built for sustained, category-defining success over the long term. A new Type of venture capital firm. The history of typists, often women and people of color, resonates with me as a Black woman, computer science graduate, and tech optimist, reminding me of their foundational role in software development. Lastly, 'Type' holds a personal connection, a subtle nod to my nickname, ‘TC’ (from my first and middle names, Terri Christina) and the initials 'TC' in Type Capital.
P.P.P.S. If you’d like to see my video submission for the application, 1) leave a comment and 2) share this piece, and as a token of my appreciation I’ll send you the link!
Tbh… while widely attributed to Churchill, there is no evidence that he actually said this.
Live long enough, become an expert on WWII.
churchill could never 🤩
Beautiful reflection, Terri. Love you. ❤️