Chapin Newhard is the Managing Partner of 48North Partners, an M&A advisory firm dedicated to helping founders and privately held business owners navigate one of the most significant decisions of their lives: selling, transitioning, or strategically exiting the companies they built.
Chapin’s connection to entrepreneurship runs deep. Raised in Colorado, he grew up watching both grandfathers run their own businesses, and his father started a company shortly before Chapin was born that he still owns and operates today. That upbringing gave him a firsthand understanding of what it truly takes to build something from the ground up, and a lasting respect for the people who do it.
Before founding 48North Partners, Chapin worked on the buy side of the transaction table at Pine Tree Equity Partners, a Miami-based private equity firm focused on family-owned and founder-led service businesses. There he gained hands-on experience in sourcing investment opportunities, conducting financial analysis and due diligence, and managing deal execution across a range of industries. He also worked directly alongside owners and management teams, developing a strong appreciation for the operational realities that drive business value.
That insider perspective is what sets Chapin apart. He knows how buyers think, what they look for, and how to position a business to attract the right partners at the right terms.
Chapin holds a degree with distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he developed the analytical and structured thinking that informs his advisory work today.
At 48North Partners, Chapin guides clients through every stage of the process, from early conversations about timing and readiness, to preparing the business, qualifying buyers, and managing negotiations. Notably, 48North is completely fee-free to business owners. The firm is paid by the buyer only when a deal successfully closes, meaning there is no financial risk to a founder in starting a conversation.
Chapin’s approach is built on honesty, transparency, and a genuine commitment to outcomes that go beyond the closing table. He takes the time to understand not just the financial goals of each client, but the personal ones too. What does life look like after the sale? What kind of buyer will honor the legacy of what was built? These are the questions that guide his work.
For founders exploring what the next chapter might look like, Chapin offers something increasingly rare: an advisor who truly understands what it took to build what you have, and who will work to protect it.
Chapin Newhard 
