GP / LP (General Partner / Limited Partner)

The two sides of a fund: the general partner runs it and chooses the deals, while limited partners supply most of the capital and hold a passive, liability-limited stake.

In a traditional search the searcher is effectively the GP and the backers the LPs; the GP earns the carry for the work and the LPs take their preferred return and capital back first, which is the split the waterfall enforces.