People imagine it's all Bloomberg terminals and power lunches. The reality is more interesting — and harder.
I get asked a version of this question a lot, usually by younger professionals who are considering careers in finance or by LPs who are curious about what their capital is actually doing between quarterly reports. So let me try to give an honest answer.
The glamorous version of running a fund involves a lot of decisive trades, sharp insights delivered at the right moment, and an air of calm authority. And look — some days are like that. But most days? Most days look more like a combination of operations management, relationship building, and careful reading.
Morning: Information before everything
My mornings start early. Healthcare is a sector where news moves markets in ways that can be sudden and severe — an FDA decision, a Phase III trial result, a CMS reimbursement update. By the time the market opens, I need to have already processed what matters and what doesn't. Most of what crosses my feed on any given morning doesn't matter. The skill is knowing the difference.
I also spend real time on macro. Running a fund that operates across both developed markets — the U.S., Europe, Japan — and emerging economies means I can't afford to treat global events as background noise. Currency moves, interest rate policy, political transitions in key markets: all of it has downstream effects on the healthcare investments we hold.
Midday: The human work
A large part of my job that doesn't show up in the investment thesis is people. As president, I'm responsible for the day-to-day operations of the firm, which means I'm involved in decisions ranging from hiring to compliance to technology infrastructure. I'm also a public face of the fund, which means meetings with current and prospective LPs, conversations with founders and management teams, and occasional conference appearances.
"The best investment decisions I've made came directly from conversations — with doctors, with hospital CFOs, with patients. You can't get that from a spreadsheet."
What people don't see
The unsexy truth is that running a fund well is mostly about process. Are we consistently applying our investment framework? Are our risk controls actually working? Are we building the relationships today that will give us proprietary insight two years from now? The dramatic moments — the big calls, the exits at exactly the right time — those are the result of a thousand smaller decisions made well over time.
I think the most important thing I've learned is that the job requires you to be both decisive and patient simultaneously. You have to be willing to act quickly when the information warrants it, and equally willing to do absolutely nothing for extended periods when it doesn't. That tension doesn't go away. You just get more comfortable sitting in it.