Why Vaapad?

The name comes from Star Wars: Vaapad, Mace Windu’s variant of lightsaber Form VII. I am drawn to the idea behind it: opening yourself to a dangerous energy, channelling it and coming close to the dark side. That also means confronting your own aggressive impulses.

For me, the image of a superconducting loop is central: taking in an opponent’s energy, letting it pass through you and redirecting it with control. I apply that idea to the market as an ambition: to turn emotional pressure into a deliberate decision.

Panic, euphoria and grand promises are part of the markets I operate in. When a commodities stock is hyped up or written off, I want to understand what drives the mood and what actually supports the business: contracts, ownership, capital requirements and potential dilution.

I look for opportunities in those extremes. Research has to establish whether they can support a speculative thesis. Keeping control also means leaving a tempting story alone, limiting a position or abandoning a thesis.

The dark side belongs in the story.

For me, it begins where conviction becomes overconfidence: falling in love with a thesis, ignoring counterarguments or needing to be right after a loss. A profit can reward recklessness. Even recognising these patterns does not make me immune to them.

I know these forces from my own decisions. That is why public documentation belongs to Vaapad: the thesis, the risk taken, the outcome and the later review should fit together. My mistakes and losses belong there too. It makes me confront the parts of the story I would have preferred to tell differently.