Hal Gottfried
Founder | Level Up Labs
Lenexa, KS, UNITED STATES
Strategic Coach, Mentor, Open Source Hardware Advocate, Educator and IT Ninja
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Biography
Hal can best be described as Open Source Advocate, Entrepreneur, Author, Perpetual Student, Tinkerer and a Shameless Self-Promoter with a thirst for exploration.
It is this powerful desire to explore new ideas that drives his approach in almost everything I do. In 2012, I cofounded the Kansas City Open Hardware Society (KCOHG) which has held to successful conferences, along with several educational outreach programs. Through both national and regional resources we work endeavor to continue this forward movement. KCOHG has grown to establish itself as the inaugural branch of the national Open Source Hardware Association.
Outside of KCOHG Hal, founded Level Up Labs, a company that has become recognized for expertise in process improvement and strategic coaching designed for startups as well as established organizations. Level Up Labs is set apart from its competitors by it's employment of data analysis and key metrics when working with your business.
His clients benefit from his over fifteen years of experience within corporate, academic and government institutions where he was instrumental in providing the design, implementation and development of enterprise level communication solutions, in addition to hands on training and development courses covering a vast array of topics during his tenure as a corporate trainer and college level educator.
Hal extends his business and leadership acuity to the community by mentoring and volunteering in the local entrepreneurial community, coaching or speaking at events such as Start Up Weekend, Global Entrepreneurship Week and City Camp.
Currently living in the Kansas City area with his very patient wife Heather, Hal enjoys 3D printing, robotics and tinkering in his time off.
Industry Expertise (10)
Computer/Network Security
Corporate Training
Computer Networking
Advertising/Marketing
Information Technology and Services
Telecommunications
Education/Learning
Professional Training and Coaching
IT Services/Consulting
Management Consulting
Areas of Expertise (24)
Communications
3d Printing
Hardware Development
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Coaching & Leadership
Mentoring & Coaching
Integration
Data Analysis & Mapping
Telecommunications
Strategic & Business Planning
Encryption
Strategic Planning for Business Growth
Startups
Process Documentation & Improvement
Non Profit
Leadership Entreprenership Startups
Technology Mentor
Leadership Engagement Team Alignment Identity Effectiveness
Python
Life Coaching
Cisco
Business & Leadership
Java
Malware Analysis
Education (3)
International Coach Academy : ICS - (PCC) - Professional Certified Coach, ICF - ACTP Accreditation Program
Peirce College: Associates of Arts in Science, Business Management 1993
Rutgers University: Bachelors of Science, Business and Computer Science
Affiliations (7)
- International Association of Information Technology Trainers
- Kansas City Open Hardware Group
- Open Source Hardware Association
- American MENSA
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Association for Computing Machinery
- Kansas City Startup Weekend
Links (4)
Languages (1)
- English
Testimonials (7)
Nitin Jain, Founder | Sprout Up
At SproutUp, we’ve been very impressed by Hal’s ability to literally read our minds and help us refine our business strategy that perfectly symbolizes our vision and mission. He truly is a thought leader with attention to detail, and very understanding of emerging product market. Hal helped us develop influencer acquisition strategy during our early stage of Beta launch. He has been outstanding to work with all the way from the sketch idea to a more refined business plan. He is been opening doors for us that is of great value to us.
Blake Hodgson, Hello Hive | Founder
Hal has always been there to help, encourage and coach me in my endeavors in starting a company or just making something. Hal has introduced me to a lot of people who can help me and given me opportunities to talk about the things I have made and to help validate my direction. When I get stuck or need coding help, Hal is always there to help me for a beer or less. Hal takes genuine interest in what do, how my company is progressing and is always there to help and give me advice.
Melissa Roberts, Office Manager | Enterprise Center of Johnson County
Hal's professionalism and good humor has always impressed me. In addition, he's always willing to spend his time volunteering to share his considerable expertise with others.
Vincent Abella, Sr. IVR Consultant | Voxai Solutions Inc
Hal is an expert communicator. As a valuable expert on our team, he sees it as an important responsibility to communicate his knowledge, experrience and solutions and adapt his style to a specific audience. Hal excels in communcating and sharing his expertise to the technical team, executive management team or, to the lay user. He brings with him an array of methods, tools and techniques to help our team work "smarter". His wealth of experience from different roles and disipline in our technology adds to his value, as far as I am concerned. If you want a quick impact to your bottomline, hire Hal.
Jeff Samay, Director of Sales/Business Development | Trivera Technologies
Any time I had the opportunity to work with Hal, I knew the course he was teaching would be a great success. He approaches each engagement with an upbeat, enthusiastic energy. Whether the course needed additional development or customization, Hal would ensure the client was getting exactly what they requested. His evaluations were always excellent.
Joy Beer, Senior Programmer/Analyst | Alliance Data
Hal provided Advanced JavaScript instruction to our development team some years ago, and it has proven most valuable. His teaching methods were sound and interesting. And we enjoyed him a great deal as a person. Even if Hal's moved on from instructing, I recommend him for his strong abilities as a communicator.
Michele Amendola, Director, Medicare Retention at WellPoint, Inc./Anthem BCBS | Wellpoint
My teammates and I had the pleasure of working with Hal as we implemented a B2B connection that, as business partners, we could describe in only very general terms. After working with several project managers and technical experts who were unsuccessful in moving our initiative forward, we were thankful to find Hal, who not only understood what we wanted, but also what we needed, to reach an optimal solution. Needless to say, we did not lose his number, and called on him relentlessly for guidance related both to that initiative and others that (to us, at least) seemed related. Hal is always quick to respond, pleasant to deal with, ready with the right direction, and makes sure that his partners' issues are resolved. I cannot recommend Hal highly enough, and look forward to his next assignment with WellPoint.
Media Appearances (3)
For the Love of Robots
Kansas City Star online
2015-07-25
The Kansas City Open Hardware Group’s first robotics challenge started the morning of July 18 and challenged local competitors — five four-person teams made up of competitors from all age and experience levels — to build an independently controlled machine in fewer than 36 hours, nearly all of which were used.
Kansas City Maker Faire, Makes it's Mark
Kansas City Star online
2015-06-23
The Kansas City Maker Faire — a collection of inventors, innovations and ideas — returns for the fifth year this weekend to Union Station. It’s the Midwest STEM-centric Coachella, a sort of science fair on steroids with exhibits featuring sophisticated robots and 3-D printers, all locally made by tinkerers driven more often by a sense of “what if” and a little “why not.”
That buzz in the air? Drones of Christmas, coming to skies near you
Kansas City Star online
2015-12-05
Expect lots of people to be joining Gottfried in sending aircraft into our increasingly crowded skies. Some 400,000 recreational drones, generally priced between $50 and $1,600, are expected to fly off retailers’ shelves this holiday season. For the year, the Consumer Technology Association estimates that about 700,000 will be sold, up 30 percent from last year.
Event Appearances (11)
Communicating Through Design: Design. Inspiration. Motivation.
Business Toolkit Workshop Series: The Art of Great Communication Olathe Community Center (1205 E. Kansas City Road, Olathe, KS)
2015-10-16
Open Source Hardware in Education
KC EDU Monthly Meetup Kauffman Labs
2015-10-14
Startup Mentoring and Coaching
KCSW Startup Weekend Edu Crossroads Academy, Kansas City
2015-01-24
Startup Mentoring and Coaching
KC Startup Weekend Sprint Accelerator, Kansas City
2014-11-15
Keynote Speaker
Kansas Linux Fest Lawrence KS Public Library
2015-03-21
Organizer and Presentor
KC Open Hardware Group - 2014 Summit Kauffman Foundation
2014-09-13
Organizer and Keynote Presenter
KCOHG 2013 Sumitt Kauffman Foundation
2013-09-21
Open Source Hardware in the Community
City Camp Kauffman Foundation
2014-05-31
Startup Mentoring and Coaching
KC Startup Weekend Think Big Coworking, Kansas City
2015-05-30
Tool Tech
Make48 Union Station
Organizer, Mentor, Coach and Resource
KC Startup Weekend - Fall Sprint Accelerator, Kansas City MO
2015-11-14
Sample Talks (1)
Open Source in Education
Open Source as part of the global open content movement, provides for shared teaching, learning, and research resources. It allows under legally recognized open licenses for people to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. Open Source can save teachers significant time and effort on resource development and advance student learning inside and outside the classroom. Further, open sharing of resources has the potential to fuel collaboration, encourage the improvement of available materials, and aid in the dissemination of best practices.
Style
Availability
- Keynote
- Moderator
- Panelist
- Workshop Leader
- Corporate Training
Fees
Patents (1)
Gottfried Early Warning Detection System
61/576,377
2011-12-16
Early warning detection of emergency vehicles for passenger cars.
Partnerships (3)
KC Open Hardware Group 2013 Sumitt
Kauffman Foundation KC Open Hardware Group
2013-09-21
Kauffman foundation was an key sponsor of our event, providing location and support for our members. We could not have had a successful event without their support.
KC Open Hardware Group 2014 Sumitt
Kauffman Foundation KC Open Hardware Group
2014-09-13
Key Sponsor
Community Training and Educational Partnership
Enterprise Center of Johnson County Level Up Labs
2014-04-01
Provided several classes in various programming languages for the community.
Courses (2)
Advanced Thinking in Python
Hal Gottfried, founder of Level Up Labs will be teaching "Advanced Thinking in Python" beginning on Weds the 29th as part of his "Programmatic Thinking" series. The first portion of which recently concluded at Kauffman Labs. Students are expected to have mastered the basics of the Python language either via Hal's introductory course or through their own work, and should feel comfortable moving on to applying Python to more complex programming needs. This course picks up where where the first left off, covering some topics in more detail, as well as adding new ones. A laptop running a recent version of Windows, Mac or Linux is required with either an administrator account or permissions to install software and modify OS settings (such as system variables).
Introduction to Python
This course is the first of a two-course sequence: Introduction to Programming Using Python, and the second is Introduction to Thinking & Computationally. They are designed to help people with little or no prior exposure to computer science and programming & to think programmatically while designing programs to tackle useful problems.
Articles (3)
Open Hardware License Models
opensource.com2015-02-04
Open-Source relies on a complex concept of content licensing. This article is a high level discussion about the various types of licenses and where they apply.
Why use open hardware in the classroom?
OpenSource.com (Red Hat)2015-03-13
Over the past few years we’ve seen an explosion of “open” models, which emerged as a result of several different factors. The general motivation behind this movement includes the ability for the free sharing of resources and tools in an effort to promote economic efficiency by improving access to a much wider group of stakeholders.
The Next Big Thing, Will Customers Notice You?
Amazon2016-11-16
ISBN 10: 0692586938 To be competitive, companies may find themselves in a Houdini-like twist. How can they respond quickly and nimbly to the changing environment without getting caught in knots? In today’s knowledge age, the ability to transform information into insight in response to market movements is core to sustainability.
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