After years running operations, managing teams, and representing a fund publicly — here's what I'd tell my younger self.
New York is a particular kind of crucible for anyone running a financial firm. The talent is extraordinary, the competition is relentless, and the standards — from LPs, from regulators, from the market itself — are unforgiving. I've learned more in this role than I probably could have anywhere else. Some of it the easy way. A fair amount of it the hard way. Here are five things that have stuck with me.
1. Reputation is the only asset that compounds faster than returns
In this business, what people say about you when you're not in the room matters enormously. Every interaction with a counterparty, every LP call, every conversation with a management team is either building or eroding trust. I've watched brilliant investors struggle because they were transactional in their relationships, and I've watched solid-but-not-spectacular investors build lasting franchises because people genuinely trusted them. Reputation compounds — treat it accordingly.
2. The fund you build reflects who you are
The culture, investment philosophy, and values of a firm don't come from mission statements. They come from the decisions the leader makes consistently over time. When you make an exception to your process "just this once," you're telling your team what your values actually are. When you handle a difficult LP conversation with transparency and humility, you're doing the same thing. People are watching. Your fund will come to reflect your character — so it's worth being intentional about what that character is.
3. Specialization is a competitive moat
Choosing to focus entirely on healthcare when I could have built a broader mandate was a deliberate choice, and it was one of the best I've made. Deep sector expertise creates compounding advantages: better networks, better pattern recognition, faster processing of new information. Generalists can be excellent investors. But in a world of increasingly sophisticated competition, having a genuine edge in a defined space is worth a great deal.
4. The operational side of the house is not optional
Many portfolio managers treat operations as overhead. I've come to see it as infrastructure for performance. A fund with weak operations — sloppy compliance, poor technology, mediocre middle-office processes — will eventually pay for it, either in regulatory trouble, in LP attrition, or in talented people walking out the door. The investment side gets the glory, but the operational side is what allows the investment side to function sustainably.
5. Stay curious or get left behind
Healthcare is one of the fastest-evolving sectors on earth. Gene therapy, AI-assisted drug discovery, wearable diagnostics, new reimbursement models — the landscape five years from now will look meaningfully different from today. The investors who do well over long periods are the ones who never stop learning. I read constantly. I talk to doctors, scientists, and policymakers. I take meetings with companies I don't fully understand yet, because not understanding something is the beginning of learning it.