Cardiff Park Advisors

Founder and President John Gorlow is the central decision-maker, responsible for originating, pricing, and closing all LP interest acquisitions. The firm operates without a large investment committee structure, reflecting its lean, founder-led model. Gorlow's background as an aerospace engineer informed the analytical pricing approach he applies to valuing illiquid partnership stakes.

Cardiff Park sources deals through direct inbound inquiries from limited partners seeking liquidity, referrals from fund managers, and repeat relationships with financial advisors and family offices. The firm does not rely on intermediated auctions, which are the primary deal channel for large secondary funds. This relationship-based sourcing model gives Cardiff Park a first look at many smaller stakes that never reach a formal auction process.

The firm focuses on smaller LP stakes, frequently those with net asset values below $5 million. While major secondary funds seek portfolio transactions in the hundreds of millions, Cardiff Park provides a bid to the fragmented tail of individual limited partners — founders, angels, and smaller family offices — who hold single fund positions too small for institutional buyers.

Cardiff Park operates as a direct, deal-by-deal buyer rather than managing a blind-pool secondary fund with a fixed investment period. The firm purchases LP interests for its own balance sheet or through discrete investor accounts structured around specific transactions. This eliminates the deployment pressure that dedicated secondary funds face and allows holding periods to match the underlying asset's duration.

The firm transacts across venture capital, private equity, real estate, and fund-of-funds LP positions. The common thread is illiquidity and a motivated seller, not a specific asset class mandate. Cardiff Park's broad mandate reflects the diverse holdings of the individual limited partners who represent its core seller base.

Yes, Cardiff Park Advisors operates as an SEC-registered investment adviser, a filing that reflects its role purchasing securities in the form of limited partnership interests. Registration provides a regulatory framework for its transaction activity, even though the firm does not manage pooled third-party assets in a traditional fund structure.

Pricing is anchored to the latest reported net asset value from the underlying fund, adjusted for market conditions, portfolio composition, distribution pacing, and remaining unfunded commitments. Without an auction dynamic on most of its transactions, Cardiff Park's pricing reflects a negotiated direct bid rather than a competitive market-clearing price, which can differ materially from broker-intermediated secondary pricing.