"Winning" is the wrong mode of thought. It's risk/reward. Index funds are low risk low reward, by design. Hedge funds are high risk high reward.
Put another way, Startups are just narrowly defined hedge funds. You can be adverse in investing in a risky startup and still be bullish about startups in general.
Except that the "high reward" part has been missing in the past several years. Hedge funds have been mostly under-performing (compared to the overall market).
