Has he considered establishing his own fund to manage external capital? If not, what are the reasons?

Answer: Okay, regarding the question of why Takashi Kotegawa, the legendary Japanese stock trader known by his alias "B.N.F." or the "J-Com guy," never set up his own fund, I can give you a clear explanation.

Core Answer: He received many invitations, but he turned them all down and never considered setting up his own fund.

This is actually a quite famous story in the investment world. One of the most notable invitations came from SoftBank Group's Masayoshi Son, but Kotegawa still declined.**

So why didn't he do it? He could have earned much more money through management fees and snowballed his wealth even larger. The reasons are actually quite simple and can be understood from several angles:

1. Intense Psychological Pressure: "Losing Your Own Money" vs. "Losing Other People's Money" Are Entirely Different

This is the most crucial and easiest point to grasp.

Managing His Own Money: Takashi Kotegawa bears all the profits and losses of his own operations. Earning 100 million yen today? Happier. Losing 50 million tomorrow? Painful, but it's his own affair. Regroup, and continue tomorrow. He can act entirely according to his own judgment and rhythm, no explanations needed.
Managing Others' Money: Once you start managing external capital, everything changes.
- Psychological Burden: Losing others' money brings heavy psychological and moral pressure. It's no longer just numbers changing; it represents the trust and hard-earned money of countless investors. This pressure severely impacts trading decisions, causing hesitation, conservatism, and even irrational actions.
- Performance Pressure: Funds need to report performance periodically, and investors constantly scrutinize the net asset value (NAV). If short-term performance is poor, redemption pressure mounts. You might be forced to sell stocks at unfavorable times to meet redemptions, creating a vicious cycle.

Kotegawa himself stated that managing others' money would prevent him from trading with peace of mind, and he didn't want that pressure.

2. Constraints on Trading Style and Freedom: "Blitzkrieg" Tactics Are Incompatible with a Fund's "Well-Organized Battalion" Operation

Kotegawa's trading style is classic "concentrated, short-term investing" – highly flexible and decisive.

His Style: He's accustomed to spotting opportunities rapidly, deploying massive capital (often going all-in), and moving in and out quickly. He might be fully invested in one stock today, sense a shift in market sentiment tomorrow, clear everything immediately to "sit on the sidelines" holding hundreds of billions of yen in cash.
Fund Operation: A fund simply cannot operate this way.
- Compliance Constraints: Funds have strict rules, like caps on single-stock concentration limits, restrictions on going fully cash, etc. These bind his hands.
- Liquidity Issues: His trades often involve tens or hundreds of billions of yen. With his own money, it's like a small boat easily turning. With a larger fund, buying and selling actions alone can significantly impact stock prices, making stealthy entry and exit nearly impossible.
- Inability to Explain: How do you explain the logic behind going all-in today, fully in cash tomorrow, and then all-in on another stock the next day? Fund managers must regularly write investment reports and hold investor meetings – clearly, Kotegawa isn't the type who enjoys networking or presenting PowerPoints.

For him, freedom and flexibility are the lifeblood of his trading system, and fund management would completely undermine that.

3. No Need: He Had More Than Enough Money

Many people start funds to earn money through management fees (e.g., 2% annually) and performance fees (e.g., 20% of profits).

But for Kotegawa, once his personal wealth reached the tens of billions of yen level, this motivation became extremely weak. He had achieved the "ultimate freedom" in financial freedom; he had so much money it was just a number, more than he could spend in several lifetimes. He continued trading more out of interest and challenge than to earn even more. Therefore, there was simply no need for him to burden himself with all those constraints just to earn a bit in management fees.

4. Personality: A Pure Trader, Not an Entrepreneur

All reports about Takashi Kotegawa point to one fact: He is an introverted, incredibly simple-living, trading-obsessed "otaku."

His Life: Involves sitting in front of multiple monitors every day, crunching data, placing trades. Tired? Eat instant noodles. Sleepy? Crash in the office.
An Entrepreneur's Life: Managing a fund means no longer being a pure trader. You have to manage a team, handle compliance, schmooze clients, do marketing... all requiring strong interpersonal and managerial skills.

This completely contradicts his character. Making him do these things would likely be more painful than losing money in a trade.

To summarize:

Takashi Kotegawa's choice to trade only for himself and not manage others' money was an extremely wise and clear-headed decision. He deeply understood his circle of competence and personality boundaries. He knew managing external capital would destroy the core elements of his success: a pressure-free mindset, extreme freedom, and pure focus.

He chose the path best suited to him, pushing "trading" itself to the extreme, rather than pursuing a larger "business empire" in the conventional sense.