I guess we are talking about two different things then, I have never heard of any one talk about the term prop firm in your sense. Doesn't make it wrong though.
Edit: If you are describing a small hedge fund that manages the managers money and outside money, then its just a hedge fund any way you cut it. Proprietary means only the firms capital is used, and for no clients.
then its just a hedge fund any way you cut it
And how does that matter for the original point under discussion -- whether someone outside of an investment bank or a big hedge fund family (e.g. Blackrock) can successfully extract money out of financial markets?
If someone actually has a working strategy, he typically doesn't just trade it, he starts a small hedge fund.
If you want people to ask you stuff reply to this post with a comment to that effect.
More accurately, ask any participating LessWronger anything that is in the category of questions they indicate they would answer.
If you want to talk about this post you can reply to my comment below that says "Discussion of this post goes here.", or not.