How He Made 846% in One Year — Then Quit Trading Forever

What we talked about.

Bryce grew up in Irvine, California, in what he calls a sheltered, fairy tale childhood, then climbed into middle management at PG&E before realizing corporate culture cared only about numbers, not impact. He went back for an MBA, dropped out mid program for six months of travel and inner work across Bali, Peru and Cambodia, then returned and, instead of launching the coaching business he planned, co-founded a hedge fund with a college friend. That fund posted a stunning 73 percent March in 2020 and finished the year up 846 percent net, growing assets from 8 million to over 600 million dollars in under two years and making it one of the top performing funds in the world. Bryce reflects on how sudden wealth revealed rather than changed people's character, unpacks how luck and hard work intertwined in his story, and explains why he eventually stepped back from trading to run the California Innovation Fund, a UC affiliated venture fund that donates half its carry back to the University of California and backs founders in biotech, AI and dual use defense tech.

A hedge fund manager who returned 846% in 2020 explains why he walked away to back UC founders instead.

The questions, and the answers.

What does the California Innovation Fund actually do?

We partner with founders coming out of the UC system, University of California. We invest generally in companies trying to make the world better, greener, cleaner, a little happier and healthier. We donate half of our carry back to the University of California because we really want to power that flywheel of innovation. That's a little bit about us.

Growing up in Irvine, what did that childhood give you and what did it cost you?

It gave me a pretty sheltered life for a long time. The good part is you're very hopeful for the world and see things in a positive light. The bad part is you don't see reality as it is. When I first moved to San Francisco there was a lot of shock factor living in the Mission and trying to interact with the world.

Which parent shaped your drive more?

Definitely my mom. She was always fighting for more and doing the right thing, very morally driven. She grew up in a family of seven kids who struggled to have lunch money, worked her way from secretary to executive, and provided for me, my sister and other family members too. My dad motivated me in my studies since he had his master's degree, but my mom was the hungrier, more workaholic one.

What did running investor relations at PG&E teach you?

We had all these great initiatives, more solar panels than anyone in California, lower energy bills. Then you go up to corporate and they don't care, they just want the numbers and the forecast. I was pretty dismayed seeing that everything becomes dollar oriented as you move up the chain. That's when I doubled down on wanting to add value to society and make money at the same time.

846 percent net returns, number one fund in the world in 2020, 8 million to over 600 million in under two years. What did that year do to your relationship with money?

It was wild, we didn't expect it that quickly. I remember eating a breakfast burrito with my dad and realizing it tasted exactly the same as it did years ago, no matter how much money I had. I also watched money reveal people's character rather than change it. Some friends got more judgmental with wealth, and that taught me to look at how people treat others regardless of what they have.

You said luck is half made and half attitude. Can you pull that apart?

I met my trading partner playing a computer game in college, he was better than me so I wanted to learn from him, and that friendship led to the fund later. COVID also created luck, the market crashed and rebounded fast and he traded it amazingly, giving us a 73 percent March. But none of it happens without the hard work of him learning to trade for decades and me learning to run organizations.

You quasi retired in your early 30s running the fund from Puerto Rico. What broke first, the work or the feeling?

We decided to stop fundraising. One of us was having a second kid and wanted to dial it back. We'd already had more success in twelve to eighteen months than we expected in five years and made more money than we needed, so we all stepped off the gas. We'd fought a lot as a team too, and it just became easier to dial the business back.

Why does the structure of giving 50 percent of GP profits back to the University of California matter for the founders you back?

A lot of our founders come out of UC Berkeley or other UCs and feel allegiance to their college, so they want to give back and this lets them do that through us. Sometimes we get into oversubscribed rounds because founders want the Cal fund in there, knowing we'll donate some back. Everyone appreciates that we're promoting entrepreneurship at Cal, it's a give first mentality.