Private Account Performance: Why or Why Not?

I’ve often seen comments stating, “hedge funds don’t care about your PA performance.” While I understand the many reasons why this might be the case, I wonder if there is a feasible path for someone with a great PA performance to break into the hedge fund industry. Have you ever seen this path taken?

Assume someone can prove, through an audited record, that they have successfully managed a non-trivial sum of capital in highly liquid markets with a scalable style and business plan.