Power Forward Management

Power Forward Management gained significant attention for its performance during the late-1990s technology boom. The Wall Street Journal reported in 1997 that the firm posted a 77 percent net return in 1996, making it one of the top-performing hedge funds in the MAR/Hedge universe at that time. Strome was frequently profiled alongside other prominent managers who capitalized on the pre-dot-com surge in technology and media stocks.

The firm operated a hybrid mandate that included concentrated public-equity positions, venture-stage private placements, and pre-IPO investments. This crossover structure was uncommon among hedge funds in the mid-1990s. The portfolio spanned emerging technology, media, and telecommunications companies, with a noted concentration in Latin American internet names during the region's first digital buildout.

The firm ran a founders-operator model with no institutionalized investment committee or distributed portfolio-manager structure. Its chief differentiator was extreme concentration risk: Strome was known to hold large, sometimes illiquid stakes in only a handful of high-conviction names. This produced high portfolio volatility — including the 77 percent gain reported in 1996 — but lacked the diversification typical of 1990s multi-strategy or long-short peers.