In an environment where many race to brag about record deal counts and lightning-fast closings, discipline might seem like a buzzkill.

Brock VandenBerg, founder and CEO of private lending firm TaliMar Financial, wants discipline to be the buzz. In fact, VandenBerg is almost evangelical about the importance of maintaining underwriting guidelines. For him, lending guidelines aren’t guardrails—they’re the foundation for the slow, steady rise of TaliMar.

“If I were to look back on the loans that did not perform as expected, it’s because we decided to maybe push the guidelines for that specific borrower,” he said.

His conviction was forged deal by deal, challenge by challenge: closing down failing banks for the FDIC during the Great Recession, lending his own money when banks wouldn’t, and scaling a private mortgage fund from scratch in one of the nation’s most competitive lending markets.

VandenBerg built his business on restraint—and that just might be the most radical move in private lending today.

Baptism by Collapse

VandenBerg’s private lending journey starts in 2008, the year the financial world imploded. While his peers were scrambling to hang on to their jobs, VandenBerg was quietly leaning into the chaos.

“The housing market had collapsed and there really wasn’t much opportunity for residential bankers at the time. I happened to be at a networking event where I met up with an investor who was needing capital to acquire properties at bank sales. I just happened to have some of my own capital and lent it to them, not knowing there was really an industry behind it,” VandenBerg recalls.

The deal worked. It led to another and then another. Soon, he was syndicating loans with high-net-worth investors. In 2021, he launched the TaliMar Income Fund, formalizing the operation into a full-scale, balance-sheet lender rooted in Southern California. His vision was, and still is, to offer investors a source of capital they can trust, while giving borrowers speed without sacrificing sound underwriting.

Today, TaliMar manages $115 million in investor capital, specializing in residential (roughly 80% of the portfolio) and, increasingly, in commercial and industrial projects. Commercial, residential, bridge, construction—it all lives under one roof, governed by strict underwriting and a crystal-clear risk-return philosophy.

The FDIC Files: Risk Management from the Inside

You can’t separate TaliMar’s ascent from its founder’s years in traditional finance. Before launching his fund, VandenBerg served at KeyBank and later at the FDIC, where he was tasked with closing down institutions and liquidating portfolios.

“I was very in front of the issues and the problems that these banks had, the errors they made in their underwriting, the loose lending guidelines,” he said.

The experience shaped Talimar’s underwriting approach. “It really gave me some insight…and I was able to take a lot of what I learned while at the FDIC and essentially apply it to running a mortgage fund.”

Yeses That Are Successes

VandenBerg might not swing a hammer, but he talks about financing rehab projects with an almost artistic appreciation. Spend five minutes talking to him and it becomes clear: This isn’t someone addicted to deal volume. He’s addicted to problem-solving.

“What drives me is finding the solutions for clients,” he said. “Every day a new loan scenario comes in that you just have never really thought about. Like, how are we going to solve this problem?”

In his world, the initial loan request is rarely the final structure.

“The loan request that normally comes in is not what is actually funded on the back end,” he said. “You’re working with your client to better understand what it is they’re looking to accomplish long-term.”

For example, one borrower lacked consistent cash flow, but the asset value was strong. “We were able to put a payment reserve together for that client.”

For VandenBerg, it’s about shaping a “yes” that will hold up rather than rubber-stamping approvals.

Two Functions, One Culture

Running a mortgage fund means running two businesses: the capital-raising side and the origination side. TaliMar’s strategy is to make them feel like one.

“The hurdle is to bring those two groups together so that they understand how one impacts the other,” he said.

The solution was company-wide pipeline meetings. Originators hear from servicing about performance issues; servicing hears from originators about structuring; investor relations gets current market intelligence straight from the source.

The goal is to create shared accountability and to emphasize real-time education. The result is a culture where departments don’t protect turf; they work together towards successful outcomes.

One example: ADU construction loans. TaliMar’s servicing team tracks construction progress, then informs originators when it’s time to shift to a lease-up bridge loan.

“They work in collaboration…so the originator can reach back out to that borrower, and when it comes time to refinance that loan into more of a bridge loan structure from a construction loan, they can do that,” VandenBerg explains.

Slow, Steady … and Still Standing

“I’ll be the first to admit that I was very slow in getting to where I am today,” VandenBerg said. “There are a lot of other companies that came out of the gate strong. … But I just every day kind of pushed the envelope a little more.”

That steady push made the fund launch even more significant.

“It was very expensive to launch it… I didn’t know if my investors were going to follow me,” he said. “I had a lot of second guessing when I wrote the check, when we launched the fund, when I accepted my first dollar.”

But they did follow. Many of the same investors from VandenBerg’s trust-deed days have helped him scale TaliMar into a diversified powerhouse in a private lending industry that is booming.

The industry growth only makes VandenBerg more conservative. He emphasizes that when there’s a flood of capital, investors need to stick to their underwriting guidelines more than ever.

“That’s what’s going to put you in a good position should the market change,” he often reminds his team. “It’s what has allowed us to operate for over 15 years with minimal issues.”

The Southern California Advantage

There’s another key reason TaliMar has managed to avoid the fate that’s taken down some lenders: They know their backyard and don’t chase volume across unfamiliar terrain. It’s another layer of discipline baked into the operation.

“We stay primarily focused on lending in the Southern California market because we understand it,” he said. … “You just do not have enough housing here for the amount of people looking. And the regulations are so burdensome, you’re not going to see an oversupply.”

Operational Discipline

At TaliMar, technology and outsourcing, like the lending guidelines, are intentional parts of VandenBerg’s disciplined approach.

VandenBerg is open to technology—but on his own terms.

“There’s a new software app that comes out every single day,” he said. “We’ve developed in-house software over the last 10 years that’s built around our own processes. It allows us to efficiently manage our loan portfolio and investor capital and the flow through our pipeline. … The best benefit is you can build it around your own processes versus trying to force somebody else’s product into yours.”

He’s equally pragmatic about outsourcing. Fund administration and loan servicing are handled externally, “so we can stay focused on what we really specialize in,” VandenBerg said.

Influence —Without the Ego

Entrepreneurship wasn’t in VandenBerg’s DNA—but it was in his orbit.

“I was around a lot of people who were entrepreneurs, not only in real estate but outside of real estate. And so it’s funny, a lot of them are investors with me today,” he said.

What did surprise him was how far he’d go. “I never thought I would hire anybody and then launch a fund and build a team,” he admits.

Asked about his influence, he paused. “I don’t know if I could pinpoint a time I realized I was an influence on people,” he says. “But I walk out into the pit where all the employees are working and none of this existed. It was just me and my director of operations, and now we’ve got a team of 12 people that are playing a vital role in the growth of the company.”

His biggest turning point? When his team started challenging his ideas—and being right.

“They’re coming back to me saying, ‘No, wrong. A better process is to do this,’” he said. “That was a moment I realized they know more about some parts of my company than I do.”

Stick to the Discipline

With $115 million under management, a growing footprint in commercial lending, and a team that thinks like owners, TaliMar could be forgiven for taking more risk. But it’s not part of the plan.

“There’s a lot of investor capital coming out right now. And it’s easy to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to kind of push the envelope to win a loan or to win that borrower, to win that transaction,” VandenBerg said. “But you have to be looking at your vision in the long term—your ability to survive through the ups and downs of the industry.”

TaliMar Financial is private lending without the swagger, without the noise, without the overpromises. It’s what happens when someone builds quietly, thinks critically, and doesn’t apologize for going slow to go far.

Because hype fades. But discipline endures.