John Hassett
John Hassett is the President of Little Harbor Advisors. With over 12 years of experience in the investment industry, he combines extensive experience in technology development, corporate finance, business operations, and financing methods in managing the firm. Hassett is a serial entrepreneur and inventor who has built and sold several high-tech startups. He holds at least 13 patents in microwave systems and cryptographic techniques and is responsible for numerous licensing agreements, M&A transactions, private and public equity and debt financing, and business restructurings.
Hassett is best known as the founder of three technology companies:
- Multilink
- Multilink introduced the first full-duplex conferencing bridge in 1983, paving the way for the emergence of conference calling as a business norm today.
- It was acquired by PictureTel Corporation to form what was then the largest teleconferencing systems company in the world.
- AT/Comm
- AT/Comm pioneered the use of microwaves for electronic toll collection and other transportation uses, installing the largest such system in use at the time on the Illinois Tollway in 1993 and later in many other locations in the U.S. and overseas.
- The firm and technology were acquired by a then-division of Scientific Applications International Corporation in 1997, consolidating the industry and later establishing EZ-Pass and other interstate electronic toll systems.
- Vialog
- He led the consolidation of nine privately owned conference services companies to form Vialog Corporation in 1997, which went public in 1999.
- It was acquired by a French firm in 2002 for a substantial multiple of its then trading price.
- Vialog became the subject of a Harvard Business School case based on its unique financing and the successful integration of so many companies in such a short period.