Conversations with the Cofounder: Reimagining Reading Part 2 with Uthman Alibalogun of Monocle

Have you ever witnessed a moment where ambition and innovation collide? Uthman Alibalogun, the co-founder of Monocle, an innovative social e-reading app, joins us to share his journey from a Nigerian immigrant to an entrepreneurial innovator in the tech industry. 

Our conversation with Uthman isn't just about technology; it's a deeper exploration of personal development through his experience as a college student at North Carolina A&T, Tech Co-founder, and Graduate Student at UC Berkeley.   Plus, we celebrate the team of Black men behind Monocle as they forge a new narrative in the ed-tech space, fostering pride and a strong sense of community.

Wrapping up, Uthman lays out his vision for Monocle - a tool that promises to weave readers into a tightly-knit shared knowledge and discourse fabric. From its potential in academic peer reviews to chipping away at intellectual stereotypes, Monocle is poised to make waves in the educational landscape. We end on a personal note, sharing Uthman's inspiring climb of Mount Fuji, a testament to how life's unplanned routes can lead to fulfilling dreams. It's a session that's as much about the transformative power of reading as it is about the milestones on the entrepreneurship journey. Join us for an episode that's bound to ignite a spark within, whether you're a book lover, a tech enthusiast, or a dreamer looking to leave your mark on the world.

Transcript

Langston Clark: 0:00

What's up, everybody. Once again, this is your boy Langston Clark, founder and organizer of Entrepreneurial Appetite, a series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism, and supporting black businesses. And today I have a very special guest, Uthman Alibalogun, who is the co-founder of Monaco, a social e-reading app. And this is the follow-up to our previous conversation with Leslie Winston III, who's the CEO and also co-founder of Monaco. And so this episode is also special because, as you know if you listen to the previous episode, that Uthman is also a graduate of North Carolina A and T.

Langston Clark: 0:33

So Aggie Pride and it's just interesting, before we started recording Uthman mentioned that this is his first podcast. And so there's another young lady I don't know if you heard. Her name is Anastasia Jackson. She's also a graduate of HBCU by Howard, and I had the opportunity to interview her for her first ever podcast episode as well, and she's the founder of we Night, which is an AI tool that she's using to handle historically black colleges and universities. I bring her up because I'm going to turn 40 this year.

Langston Clark: 1:04

I understand now how elders in black communities will look at someone who was younger and say, oh, my goodness, I'm so proud of you, the next generation, all that stuff. I'm still young, but I'm old enough to look at you and be like man. You're someone who's younger than me. That inspires me and I just appreciate the courage that you all have to start this business and to be juggling all of the things that you were juggling while being a founder and a co-founder and trying to do something that's changing the way that we interact and build community. So, Uthman, I appreciate you being here once again, Aggie Pride, and if you could just begin telling us a little bit about what Monaco is from your perspective for those folks who weren't able to listen to the previous episode, For sure, definitely Aggie Pride and a little bit about Monaco.

Uthman Alibalogun: 1:50

So Monaco is a collaborative social e-reader. So the overall idea of the application is that when you read books on our platform, you can annotate the book, share your comments, share your thoughts, add reactions and then you are able to share those annotations to not only the world but, you know, the communities that you're a part of, whether that's educational spaces or book clubs. So the idea is to really add more of a social layer on top of reading.

Langston Clark: 2:18

As we always typically start. What's your hero's journey? Right, and I know that you're a founder, a co-founder and an executive at the startup, but I want to go a little bit further back in your story and start off by telling us how did you become a scientist? Like? What was your entry point into doing the things that you're doing in terms of computer science and all these other things?

Uthman Alibalogun: 2:41

Yeah for sure. So when I think about my journey, I think it's always important to start off with my birth. So I was born in Nigeria and then, after I turned one, literally, my parents were able to get visas for us to move to the States. And then I grew up in PG County, maryland, and if you didn't know, pg County Maryland is a predominantly African American like county and you know it's not only just predominantly black but very affluent blacks, with, you know, the government being there. So people have money and people are able to like you know, you're able to be surrounded by a lot of like black people, right.

Uthman Alibalogun: 3:20

So early on in school I was always interested in science, into the sciences and engineering and working in like at that time I didn't know what the tech space was, but you know before then the tech space and you know it showed in ways of like the programs that I were involved in in middle school and high school, right. So, like in PG County, that there's like a program called TAG and TAG is like the talented and gifted program. So, like I was fortunate enough, I guess, to like be able to test out of certain classes and, you know, be a part of the program, which was like an accelerated learning path. But the thing was that TAG stopped in high school. So for high school I went to the school called Flowers High School, charles Herbert, flowers High School and Flowers High School had a program called Science and Technology. So that the idea of the science and tech program was that when you test it into the program, you know there are three different type of tracks that you go into and, like, your freshman year is like the exploration year where you get to experience with different classes, so and then sophomore years where you choose a track. So the tracks were engineering, biology and computer science. And you know, fortunately I was able to not only test in the science and tech but also be able to go through with the computer science track.

Uthman Alibalogun: 4:46

But, to be honest, like, looking back on it in high school, if, like you were to ask me, like, did I know how to code in high school? I definitely didn't. I mean it was, it was just nice being in like the program because I think before I really knew anything, for me it was just more so like, oh, like I'm in science and tech, this is going to help me go into college because, mind you, like I'm a first generation college student so I didn't know much about anything. So when people spoke about college to me it really sounded like a lot of like throw a lot of things on your resume and something you know, you're going to get a full rider, you're going to be able to go to school, right. So it was like throughout high school I like ran track, but I know that wasn't good at it Got into science and tech, was in the computer science program and you know I didn't learn how to code, did not even.

Uthman Alibalogun: 5:35

So the idea of the program was that you go through the computer science track and then the end of your senior year, junior year, you take the AP computer science exam and then you know, you test out and then you know, best case scenario, you get college credit, right. Yeah. So I threw the AP exam, did not know anything like, did not put anything. However, like not to say that I didn't learn a lot from the program, but it just felt like I like at the time I kind of underestimated like the world of computer science and the world of software engineering, but in the back of my mind I always knew that's what I wanted to pursue.

Uthman Alibalogun: 6:14

So, um, fortunately for me, like when he came time to pick a college, like, to be honest, I can't remember that that definitive point where I was like I wanted to go to anti, but my criteria there was that, you know, I didn't want to be in Maryland simply because I wanted to be a bit away from home.

Uthman Alibalogun: 6:35

I wanted to go to a HBCU Because I just grown up in PG County, surrounded by predominantly black people.

Uthman Alibalogun: 6:44

I was like I wanted to keep this up as long as possible because I felt as though, like I wasn't lacking of anything right, like I had community, I had friends, I had family nearby and I wanted to go to school with a great engineering program. Because, you know, I think that, like when you talk, when you think a lot about like first generation college student, especially coming from like immigrant background, your options really are like engineering, being a doctor, being a lawyer right, I knew law school or, you know, being a lawyer wasn't for me. I thought I wanted to be a doctor at some point but then I realized no, so engineering was like the natural next best fit. And, you know, fortunately enough for me, ant was all of those things bundled up into one and when I applied at first. I actually did not get accepted full out. The thing was I was I don't know the proper term, but like they said that we need to see your grades come up a little bit, you waitlisted.

Uthman Alibalogun: 7:46

Were you waitlisted? Yeah, I was waitlisted, I think, because they said, you know we're not completely telling you no, but like we need to see better grades from you. So two quarters like try again and we'll let you know. But that was something that I knew, that I definitely wanted to to be a part of and you know, throughout that period of like first and second quarter of senior year at high school, I definitely prayed on it a lot and it motivated me to work a bit harder in my classes. And even before I had the opportunity to send off that second transcript, at the top of the year right, ant sent a message saying you know what congratulations you're in right, and that was.

Uthman Alibalogun: 8:27

That was an amazing moment for me because it was just like damn, like everything that I, all the efforts that I put in, even though it was grinding, like all that grinding that I did to better up my grades and to like really get into this school, I was able to get in.

Uthman Alibalogun: 8:43

And not only was I able to get into the school my top choice but it matched all the criteria perfectly, right.

Uthman Alibalogun: 8:50

Yeah, so got into ANT, decided to major of full right in computer science. But I realized that the way in which I was moving in college where I would just like take it chill and I would just you know, because it's like I felt as though, because I was in all of these tag programs and science and tech programs it was like I knew I was smart, right. But when I got into ANT, it was this era of like, yeah, I'm smart, but these people are running like miles ahead of me, like these people are like smarter than me and I can't, I can't be lazy here anymore. Because when I got into college, that that felt like my first real moment of being an adult and something in me was telling me I can't mess this up, because it's like you have all the money associated with going to college, first one to go to college, and like I was at the time I was hearing a lot of stories about like ANT is a party school or you know a lot of people.

Langston Clark: 9:47

When I was at ANT it was a party school, so listen. So I'm gonna cut you off, but I'll make this relevant to what you're saying. So my first two weeks like you know you've, was it like I was like my first two or three weeks at ANT. Listen, I went to the club like four days a week, four days a week and then like I was in a math class, but like the math class was like a super easy math class, like I took this math in high school and so like I just I got a, I got like a D or F on that first math test. But I know I knew that stuff. So after that is when I really hunkered down and like became a good student. But I'm telling you, when I was at ANT you could party all week, like all week. So it's interesting what you bring up in that. You got to ANT and you felt like these other students were miles ahead of you. So I was able to matriculate going.

Langston Clark: 10:53

I went to UT Austin, university of Texas at Austin, for my doctorate and the undergrad the black undergrads I mentor there, lot of them, some of them first generation college students, and they would talk about how you know, in high school I was a shit. I was number one student, top 10%. It was easy. I can hear everyone's super advanced, but they're saying that in the context of them being the only black person in class or them being the only brown person in class. So I think it's important, like an important trope that I'm hearing already in your story is that you have been inundated with black excellence or in some ways like been around black success your entire life, and you didn't miss out on that when you went to A&T, even though those people were seemingly further ahead of you or more advanced than you.

Uthman Alibalogun: 11:43

Yeah, yeah, for sure, 100%. Because it was just like in high school, right, you know, black valedictorian, black salutatorian, like for sure, like all the big accolades that you can find at any high school in the nation. We had that there, right? But it's like, when I think about my time at high school, it was like it was.

Uthman Alibalogun: 12:04

I was one of those cases where it's like I knew I was smart. People would tell me I was smart and you know, and I think that once you're told you're smart a little bit too many times, it's just like I take it chill, but really it's like when I stepped on A&T's campus, I was like, yeah, I can't play anymore, because it's like people out here are taking this seriously. And then the thing that got me was that like people knew how to have their fun but be about their business for real, you know, and I was really like, if they can do it, essentially like and this is like my first chance at college, my only shot then I should be able to do it too, because, like you said, like I remember that first week of moving in, because I had a couple of friends from my high school who went to A&T as well. But it was just like literally, my parents dropped me off. I was out to 2 am that night. Just what was I doing? Just walking around.

Uthman Alibalogun: 13:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know I was just enjoying myself and I was just like, wow, like, this is me, like independent, this is me. The adult can't tell me nothing. I'm about to handle my business, I'm about to, you know, do all the great stuff. So A&T, like freshman year, sophomore year, you know, when I think about my years at A&T, I definitely took computer science seriously and then I realized that, like more and more, with different opportunities, that the field of tech or the field of computer science is extremely broad and there's a lot of amazing opportunity. And when I think about my time at A&T, I would say the moment in which I realized like this industry is amazing, or this is the industry for me 100%, was in sophomore year. I got the opportunity with UNCF. They had an HBCU initiative or program where you know they took you and flew you out to the Bay Area and you got to talk with different tech companies for about a week and then you know they would have a lot of representation. They're talking about what's the perks of working in tech, the pros, the cons, what they like about their job, how they got to that point, and then it's just something about like being put in a position that really expands your worldview and at that moment I realized that, hey, you know, post grad, I want to move to the Bay Area, I want to be where the tech is at, I want to be a software engineer. This is it. This is like this is the end goal for me.

Uthman Alibalogun: 14:37

And anytime I really think about, like my love for tech or my love for computer science, I really think about the opportunity to go on that trip. Because beforehand, like when I think about like United States right, I've only been to East, like on the East Coast, I've only been within Maryland and North Carolina at that time, for the most part maybe Virginia, here and there but to be able to get on a flight, go on a completely different time zone and see like a big city, san Francisco, and just see how they move and see like I don't like when I say it really opened my eyes, like, imagine like you take a student coming in in an area that's primarily like GovTech or government workers. So people are working in suits, people are dressed up for work, work is a very serious thing, right? And then you put me in the tech office. I see a dude in pajamas and he's like oh yeah, I'm gonna see your software engineer and I'm like yo, like this is really what it means.

Uthman Alibalogun: 15:36

At that time I was like this is really what it means Like love your job and bring yourself to work because you can tell the amount of comfort and like that they had like in their day to day. And when he came to speak with us it was just like oh yeah, so chill, like come on man, like I don't know, like even another story. It was like I remember somebody was giving like a small breakout session speech and I'm not gonna like say too much, but it was like they threw in a curse word here and there and I was like whoa, whoa, this is not an office building and I like all of that, like I was, I was closed off to all that and all that. I was like new for me at the time.

Uthman Alibalogun: 16:12

I was just like yo, like this is like what it means to really like enjoy what you do and have a passion. So I was since then, since sophomore year, it's been about like what can I do the best position myself to get to that place? And like for junior and senior year, I feel like for me it's always been about like I've never been a person a shy way for like going after opportunity, because fortunately I was able to like in my junior year I was able to apply for MLT and get into their career prep program, so which allowed me to have like visibility to more tech companies and bias versa, have tech companies have visibility to me.

Langston Clark: 16:56

And Dave what is MLT before you? Before you go on, explain what MLT is.

Uthman Alibalogun: 17:00

For sure. So MLT stands for management leadership for tomorrow. So they have a career prep program and I believe that they're more known for their, like, MBA prep program. So the idea of MLT really is you know, MLT's career prep program was for college students and it provided fellows we were called fellows with a professional playbook of 20 months of coaching and access to an amazing network of 20,000, like well, sorry, around 10 to 20,000 of MLT rising leaders.

Uthman Alibalogun: 17:35

So one of the big things that MLT kind of like honed in, or for you to get into MLT's career prep, one of the big things that you have to showcase in your application, was, like your ability to be scrappy. You know, and I think MLT, like when I look at the next steps in college, MLT was a great next step for me because it gave me that refinement and it really just sharpened my edge as far as like how to craft the resume, how to talk an elevator pitch, how to find a company, how, like when it got to the point where I actually got like a job offer. I remember my coach at the time helping me work on like negotiation. So it was just that, like sophomore year I had UNCF and then at the end of sophomore year, I applied to be a part of MLT and MLT really took me from that next level, beginning from like junior year, all the way through senior year. So it really was just like an amazing opportunity for like me to keep reiterating on myself and keep strengthening my skills.

Uthman Alibalogun: 18:40

Because, you know, even though, like I knew that like tech was something that I wanted to do, I also recognized that there were not a lot of people that looked like me within that space.

Uthman Alibalogun: 18:51

So I think that, you know, when I had an option where I just like say, forget it, okay, whatever, or I just hone in and try my hardest to, you know, make myself the best candidate as I possibly can be, and, you know, I think Antti did a great job of showing me people interning at, you know, the Microsoft, the Googles, you know the big tech firms, the LinkedIn's, and then saying that, hey, they were able to do it, you can do it. Our career fair, like the biggest career fair in North Carolina, right. So it was just like you know, these alums keep coming back, keep saying this is how you do it, and it's like it was just such an amazing process of like me seeking out more information on how to become better, but also having people willing to pour back into me and give me what I need to make it to that next step.

Langston Clark: 19:40

So Udman talk about the monocle journey, right. So how did you become a co-founder with monocle and did any of those experiences MLT or the UNCF program help prepare you for being a co-founder?

Uthman Alibalogun: 19:56

For sure. So I don't know if Leslie told you this, but, like me, and Leslie were technically co-founders on something else before in the past. So another organization that I really rock with right is TMCF. So, like at the time I forgot what year it was, but TMCF had a program called like a program, where it was like an innovation challenge, and then they took us to Raleigh, north Carolina at the time, and something similar is that you know, they brought together a lot of these HVCU students and then said form teams, come up with a product, and then at the end of this five day seminar, you're gonna pitch your product to you know, people in VC, business owners, entrepreneurial minds, right and then the winning team gets to win like free MacBooks, right, because it was sponsored by Apple.

Uthman Alibalogun: 20:54

So, like me and Leslie, we actually worked on a product before for TMCF and our small product was called like Ford and the idea was that, like you know, in our group we were able to come up with the idea that, like, you can pay off your student loans by rounding up your purchases and investing the changes investing the change on your purchases and they use that money to eventually pay off loans over time, right? So I remember like Les was like the product designer there, I was like the engineer there, we had somebody work on finance, we had two people working on finance and you know so it was a very collaborative moment. So, essentially, like that was the first time working with Leslie, because me and him were both in the college of engineering, kind of always knew of him, but we really got close after we both crossed spring 19. So once we crossed, some time had passed and you know, me and Leslie definitely talked regularly and there was a moment where he was telling me about the idea of Monaco, right, and back then it wasn't even called Monaco fully yet, and then it just got to a point where we kept talking about it and then he mentioned it and he was like, essentially, like, are you trying to get in on this? And I took some time to think about it, because another thing is like I was part of a startup before, like in college that did not go as well, simply not nothing major but I feel like I wasn't ready to be a part of that.

Uthman Alibalogun: 22:29

I did not know what it meant to really be a co-founder yet. But when Leslie came to me with the opportunity to be a co-founder of Monaco. It just felt like yeah, like let's do this. I trust you. I've worked with you before. I know what you can do because, like Broza, he's a beast, like it's like when it comes to product design and like Figma and you know things that he really can get to it. So I was just like you know. I know we'd be in good hands and I know I can provide an ad value here.

Langston Clark: 23:00

Wonderful and this is a great segue into the next question and I feel like there's a trend in the society where VC founding, angel investing are things that a lot of folks are attracted to and they want to be the CEO, but everyone can't be the CEO, right? So talk about for you the importance of what it means to be the co-founder but not the CEO, and why that's something that is necessary and important and can contribute in significant ways.

Uthman Alibalogun: 23:44

Yeah, definitely. So I think that one of the biggest things, too, is just like playing to your strengths as a person. So I would honestly say that Leslie is a more extroverted person than I am, and when I think about the things that I've been a part of, or programs that I've worked on, or things that I've just done throughout my life, I tend to be more on the side of the background type of person, the systems guy, and then, because that's where I'm comfortable at, I don't mind the people facing, I don't mind the communications, but I know that my social battery can get drained quickly, but I feel like Leslie is somebody who gets charged by certain situations like that, and I've seen them working. You know networking spaces, being able to talk to multiple people, which is something that's very cool. I think that, when it comes to being a co-founder, is understanding that like understanding where you play, but even though, like I'm a co-founder, I still make it my responsibility to know just as much as he knows and then also try to find ways to fill in the gaps wherever, like you know, there may be gaps between what he knows and what I know, or what I know and what he doesn't know, and I think it's cool where you know you have somebody who's amazingly focused in product right and has an amazing vision, then, like, for me, I love tech, I love technology, I love, you know, building systems, right. So I'm looking at, okay, this is the vision. How can we ensure that we're building a system that not only can support our needs today but can be extensible enough for our needs tomorrow to match the vision that Leslie has, right?

Uthman Alibalogun: 25:23

So I don't think that, like you know, I think that being able to put your name down is like you know, the go-to or the CEO is nice, but also like, if you take a lot of pride in the things that you do and you really know your strengths, you will really learn to love like the role that is not always the most people-facing too, as well. So that's pretty much like. Yeah, like how it goes Because, to be honest, like when it comes to like pitch competitions or when it comes to like things of that nature, that's his strong suit, right? Yeah, come up and give a pitch about Monacoal for three minutes and then answer investor questions. I for sure can you know like some of the answers that he gives. He works on with me and we go back and forth with the rest of the team. I can definitely do that, but I just know that after a certain point in time, or like you know, or after like too many questions I may, just that battery just goes down and it's like oof, like you know.

Langston Clark: 26:24

Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I'm like I'm a crypto hobbyist, I would say and so like I'm mining this cryptocurrency called Helium and that, like the Helium, they're like decentralized and wireless, so like I basically have a wireless tower in my house. This is the simplest way for me to explain this little box, right, and so like, what they're doing is similar to what you guys, what I think you guys will be doing in terms of building community around this product. And as they're building community around this product, their CEOs are very much external facing.

Langston Clark: 27:03

So something I'm starting to recognize in startup culture is that people are building community around a product and they want to be able to touch the CEO. Like people want to be able to be in community, meet with you, have with you whatever when you have events and things like that. So like, as you all grow and as listeners are listening to this right, and you think about what role that you want in a business, like, if your social battery don't recharge easily, you know it might be difficult for you to be the out outward facing CEO, and that's not to say that introverts can't do the job, because they can. But I think you bring up a very important point, especially with the way the culture is going now, with people who are doing startup work, people want to be able to touch and communicate with the CEO in ways that they didn't want to in years past.

Uthman Alibalogun: 27:50

Yeah, 100%. And it's like to even add on to your point. Right, I feel like a lot of CEOs, right, or like former CEOs, are transitioning more to, like celebrity roles. Right, it's like they're looking more and more like celebrities and I was. I don't know if it's always been like this, but like to me, I know personally, like if I was a CEO or if anything, it's just like let me, let me have the private life. You know some people. It works well for them, but for me, I just know that, like, after a certain point in time, I do enjoy retreating into my own space and, like you know, thinking of things on my own.

Langston Clark: 28:27

So one of the things that you mentioned was conversations with the team, and there's there's this. I mean, this is underlying stereotype in our society, where the only place where we see black men working together as a team team is always associated with sports. Right, and I know that while you were at ANT, like the football team was dynamic while you was there not so much now, but we'll that's another conversation. What is it? What does it mean for you to be working together with other black men who are building towards something greater than individual? Talk a little bit about about that.

Uthman Alibalogun: 29:08

Yeah, I feel like I'm really fortunate, right to be able to be in a situation where it's where a team of black men working together to build a product, especially in the space that really needs it, right at ed tech, you know, it's really great to be able to work amongst a team of other black men and we're all working towards like a common goal. I think what's really cool about it is just that, you know, recognizing that, hey, we all have the same beginnings of ANT and we all recognize, like, the type of work that we've put in right and we all recognize the amount of effort or our skill set and our ability to perform or make something happen right, and then not only for it to be, you know, we recognize that but, hey, that common ground of ANT being able to be the point that brings us together is just like, okay, this shared commonality is really what grounds us as far as, like, how we move forward or how we approach things. And I think it's cool because, like, to be honest, like I know, a lot of people can have different experiences of working with, like you know, teams where they felt like they were the minority or their voices are not being heard or you know their, their, their impacts were being overlooked, right, but like being in something where everybody is equal. Or I have an understanding of you because you're my brother, right, like I have an understanding of you because we came from the same place, it's just, it's just amazing, because it's like you know, as long as I keep respecting you, you keep respecting me and we keep believing in this vision, we can definitely make something as bigger than us eventually.

Uthman Alibalogun: 30:41

Because it's like it's it's real like, because when I think about like, when I think about all the podcasts that I've listened to in the past, right, or about founders who found something with somebody that they went to school with, it's just like you know, they were always able to like this person was their roommate, this person they had the same class with them, or this person they were, you know, I saw him at lunch one day and I just knew he was smart. So to be able to create a similar story like that, especially coming out of an HVCU, is like to me, magical, because it's like we're able to, we're going to make this happen, right. We, we have the talent and we know that we can bring this idea into fruition.

Langston Clark: 31:24

Yeah, I think that's dope too, and what I also think is is amazing, and maybe what helps you be able to juggle all the things that you're juggling is being able to have this team that you're working with at Monaco, and so one of the things that I noticed is that, like you have school, right, you're at UC Berkeley. Berkeley ain't no joke y'all. If y'all don't know, berkeley ain't no joke, right, you at Berkeley, and you have your job and you have startup. So talk a little bit about how you're able to juggle those three balls at the same time but still maintain yourself. You know what I mean. How, how, how are you doing Work life balance? Or maybe now is not a time in life where you have work life balance?

Uthman Alibalogun: 32:12

No, it's definitely a challenge. For sure, I'll give you that. It's for sure a challenge. But I would say that I'm thankful and, you know, I feel like I was blessed with the ability to adapt and be flexible enough to be the person who I need to be in whatever moment that I'm in. So, when I think about, like what I'm currently doing, right, so it was working full time as a software engineer and we had Monaco and then going back to school.

Uthman Alibalogun: 32:44

So a little bit of news, right, I was actually laid off from my job in 2023. And you know, when getting laid off, it was just like whoa, it shook me because I was just like dang. I gave, like you know, two, two and a half years to this company and it kind of threw me out of, threw me out of WACA a little bit, or, you know, it shook me up a bit. But I think in that moment, it made me realize the importance of like going in on Monaco and going in on school, because these are the investments that are important to me to take me to that next level, right, and these are the things in which I see myself like utilizing or being a part of that can elevate who I am as a person. So, to like answer your question, it's just like, when it comes to balancing those big ticket items, I think the biggest important thing for me is like understanding why I'm doing them. Because, like, I feel like a lot of times in the past, like you know, there were things that I wanted to be a part of, or things that I wanted to do simply because, oh, this looks nice, or oh, this will get me into college, or oh, this is gonna get me into, like get me a nice job. Or oh, this is gonna make me cool on campus.

Uthman Alibalogun: 34:01

But then when I started like getting away from that thought, I started thinking more of what do I want out of life, what do I want in the next five years, what do I want out of the next 10 years and how exactly can I position myself to?

Uthman Alibalogun: 34:15

You know, attain those things, or what are the most important things right now that I can focus on and put my time and energy to that's going to provide me the most returns in the future. So it's just like losing my job. You know was like a big shaker for me, right, but at the same time it gave me the opportunity to say, if I really believe in Monocles vision right, how hard am I willing to work on Monocles while I'm, you know, while I'm not without a full-time job? If I really believe that, like, machine learning is the future and data science is the future, right, how hard, how much harder am I gonna go in my classes now at Berkeley, you know, now that I don't have work as like as a crutch, saying oh, I can't study as much today, or oh, I can't put in as much hours today, you know. So it to me, is all about, like, examining, weighing those things and, like you know, realizing that, hey, like, everything is an opportunity, but it doesn't mean it's the best opportunity for me.

Langston Clark: 35:16

That's right, and despite having been laid off in 2023, 2023 was still a big year for Monocles because you all won I think you all won, like the first, the grand prize for the HBCU award, right, and so Leslie talked a little bit about that. So I wanna ask you, outside of the Black Ambition Program an award that you got, you all got what are some other ways that you all have gotten support or sought out support for Monocles?

Uthman Alibalogun: 35:50

Yeah, I think one of the biggest ways I don't know if Leslie talked about this was that, like one of our first social media posts on TikTok went viral. So it was pretty cool seeing that like a lot of people believed in the vision and after that, like they signed up to be a part of the beta release for Monocle. And that's one of the ways that I think of when it comes to like thinking about like how we've gotten support. It's just like cause. It takes a lot to put yourself out there, whether it's the person or you as a company, right. But to not only put yourself out there and a lot of people are saying, hey, I love this idea, or hey, I wanna be a part of this community, or hey, I wanna join, it's like okay, we're doing the right thing here.

Uthman Alibalogun: 36:34

Other ways have been like from the simple fact of like a lot of my friends already know that I'm working on Monocle or I have a startup, right. It's just like the check-ins about like how's it going? How are you feeling? What's the work been looking like lately, wishing us the best, but in like more in other ways of support, too, has been like when we had, like won some funding and we've won like some funding here and there, like in smaller check amounts, which has been great. Honestly, cause money go to, especially when it's going into the company's pockets, right. And then, like, we also had the opportunity to have like UC Irvine grad students work on our application. They were helping us build like recommendation models for the application. We were able to have like Berkeley law students help us with some of like you know, our questions as far as, like you know, when it comes to working with the inner workings of like how law works for a company like Monocle.

Uthman Alibalogun: 37:39

So it's been many different things that like really compounded on themselves to really show, like me specifically, like okay, like we're doing the right thing here. People out here believe in the vision, people out here want to see us win and we we got to keep going. So when it all led up to us winning Pharros Black, ambition, right, it was just like wow, like this is this, is it. Like this is this is not the endpoint, right, but this is like the this is like that marker, like when, when people are doing like a movie or Monocle, right, this is going to be. Like this is when. This is where it all started, like the milestone.

Langston Clark: 38:17

So this is interesting Cause you mentioned UC Irvine and you're at Berkeley now in the programs they had to help support you all's business. I had another episode. I'm just I'm making all of these connections after speaking with this brother who went to ANT, graduated maybe four or five years before you. His name is David Pulliam and David works for JP Morgan and he was a football player and David went from PWY to HBCU so he started playing football. I think it was at Eastern Michigan transfer to ANT. Now you have gone from HBCU to PWY for graduate school and, as we mentioned before, you know you hear the stories about like the white guys in a dorm and met this guy at lunch and you know we started our business and now we got a unicorn startup right. So talk about how you see the culture of HBCU innovation and entrepreneurship among students. What was it like while you were at ANT and how do you see it evolving? Or maybe like what do you envision your impact being once Monaco like blows up?

Uthman Alibalogun: 39:37

Yeah, that's a great question, for sure. So when I was at ANT, I definitely feel like there were involvement, like like there were investments in innovation and, like you know, starting your own business and stuff. However, it wasn't until I graduated in which I realized that there's more investments on the grander scale, right, cause, when I think about my time, like at ANT, I was fortunate enough to have like UNCF sponsored me to fly me out into, you know, fly me out to California, right. But now I see that, like you know, ant has created like Eric, right, or let me not say created, but ANT has Eric now like the, you know, engineering, research and innovation center. And then to me, those things are like testament to like providing students the space to build out those ideas, to have resources and potentially funding to work on the things that they find like are like really cool. And another thing, too, as well as just like I forgot the exact name of it, but if I'm not mistaken, ant has like a crypto resource group right Now that has, like that has received some type of funding, and it's like student ran. I know that, I know it because Leslie and I were talking about it, but that was something that wasn't at ANT before.

Uthman Alibalogun: 41:05

But when I look at HBCUs from the grander scheme, like or let me speak specifically to the T right, it's just like when I think about like the college fair or like when companies came to speak, it seemed a lot like you know, ant did an amazing job getting me career ready. As far as like knowing how to wear a suit, knowing how to tailor a resume, knowing how to send follow-up emails. But I will say, when I think about the programming or things around, like how to start your own business or how to like you know what is how to get your Delaware C Corp, you know things of that nature. As far as like building a startup or being a bit more innovative or doing something for yourself, I don't think that there were too many resources, at least for me at that time. So you know when Monocle blows up and when you know things are like when things is amazing right, I definitely do see myself coming back and making like more of an effort to let students know that, hey, the end all be all doesn't always have to be. You know, you graduate, you get a corporate job and you work in corporate. You know, for some people that's amazing. That's what you wanna do.

Uthman Alibalogun: 42:23

Some people like entrepreneurship is the route for them, you know, and it's nothing wrong with trying to get out, and I feel like it's better to try it out when you know the stakes are low, like you're a college student, like what can you really lose? And I feel like with that, or I think one of the biggest things, the benefits that, like working on monocle and working entrepreneurship has given me, is the ability to see that, like there's really a lot of opportunity out there. And then if you even just sit down and think about like, or take some time to think about like all the types of businesses they are that are out there, it's like whoa, like I don't have to confine myself to this one industry or this one vertical. It's, the world is very vast. So I think you know, providing opportunity like when we make it right, providing opportunity or providing that like insight as far as like how big and vast the world is, is where I definitely see myself.

Langston Clark: 43:22

Definitely so. Y'all have some Ws lately and we talked a little bit about that and you know you just got done mentioning how people and I think that this goes beyond HPC I've been at white schools, I've been at Hispanic serving institution now and, um, you know, education is bent towards employment. It's very difficult to be an entrepreneur and sometimes the fear of entrepreneurship is the fear of failure. And so, despite all the wins that you all have experienced, talk about Maybe some failures or challenges that you all had that you had to get over in your journey so far.

Uthman Alibalogun: 44:09

Yeah, some challenges for sure. So, with all the good things, is definitely some some challenges for sure, are some challenges and some not so good things right? I think one of the biggest Challenges for Monocle has really been, like you know, we've had certain calendar or roadmaps, dates for you know, certain releases or Putting the app on like the app store, or releasing the public beta that, unfortunately, we've had to push back through to like different reasons. Maybe it's funding, or maybe it's just like lack of resources, or like the inability to like fully develop the app or get it to a point in which it can be on the app store. So it's just like working within that space and recognizing that like, hey, like we need to Working within that space and recognizing that, hey, like we had these goals, we weren't able to hit these marks, kind of hurts, but it, you know, I think that with the wins we get, we were constantly reminded that, hey, we can get to that point For sure. Because, like to be real, like you know, I Feel bad at some points.

Uthman Alibalogun: 45:20

Or when I did work a full-time job, right, I felt bad, you know, because it was just like I have to give a lot of my attention to my full-time job. You know, that's what's paying me the bills, that's what's keeping me fed, that's what, that's what's keeping the roof over my head. Right, and I definitely would love to provide more for Monaco, right, but unfortunately it's just like if I was to lose my job. You know it's just like then I'm going into to the survival mode and then it can't make that. You know that effort to put it into Monaco. So it's just like when I think of like that issue or like that challenge for me, it. You know, sometimes when I hear about other founders and they're like, yeah, I was able to move on my family's couch for like six months, or I was able to move into someone's apartment for 12 months, I'm like I don't have that, yeah.

Uthman Alibalogun: 46:15

I can't do that. Um, I gotta, I have to work, I have to do something. So it really is like if, all in all, it really motivates me that I can't Monocle to a point where you know that's the part, that's the point that, like that's the the sole source of income, right? Because then it's like I'm not only doing what I love, but I'm getting paid for it too.

Langston Clark: 46:38

Hmm, uh, talk about the future of Monaco Like it's. We're 10 years in the future. What do you imagine Monaco, monaco being?

Uthman Alibalogun: 46:48

Yeah, 10 years in the future is 2024, right now, 2034. Yeah, yo, I, for me, like, I think it's funny because if you ask Les this question and um, his answer may be a bit different than mine, and I think that's part of the beauty of Monaco, right, it could be so many different things, right, but for me, monaco, I really see Monaco being in almost every school, right? Or, like, I see Monaco pulling people together as far as, like, when it comes to like reading, or like you know content, as like you know written content, because it's too many times in which I've read something or I've enjoyed a good book and, like, the first thing I do is I see if there's a movie out for it, or I see if there's like a Reddit subreddit about it, and I think that being able to like read something and enjoy it and then find other people in that community, you know, matter. How it is, it's like it's powerful. So I really see it being the go to of, like, yo, I just read this, oh, what did Monaco say about it. Or I'm looking at this book, oh, the people on Monaco are saying this. And then even like other spaces, as far as like with the end, like with the evolution of AI and machine learning and you know all of those nice things right which I'm trying to get my degree in.

Uthman Alibalogun: 48:08

It's just like I definitely see Monaco being a tool to help improve like literacy in some of our youth too as well. Because it's just like if we can understand how people are interpreting written text, then we can tailor lesson plans or we can tailor, you know, certain education plans around the, the proposed or how we perceive that this person will take it right. Because it's like, yeah, that's it. Like I can talk like some like ours and ours as far as like the things I could see Monaco being, but like even I've had friends like in the graduate space as well, talk about how, like with peer reviews, like you know the process of doing peer reviews, but imagine having a platform online where it's like peer reviews can be centralized in a sense, where it's like you, you can upload papers or you can find papers on Monaco and and take those papers and have conversations around like important researchers topics. So it's so many different avenues in which, like I can see Monaco place itself in the context of a matter of like get into that point.

Langston Clark: 49:16

That's. That's interesting because my my nine of five is I'm a professor, so we write articles all the time like my text thread, like your text there with Leslie and your other co founder. That's my text thread with my co authors and people I do research with, and so I definitely see some value, some value in that in terms of being an academic. But also my area of study is education, and so when I was having a conversation with Leslie, he didn't speak so much about it in terms of ed tech, but in my mind I was like kids are going to be able to engage in literature in a way that they wouldn't have before. You're going to find out like sometimes there's a stereotypes about being smart or being a nerd, right, I just found out, like two weeks ago, that my cousin who's he's my oldest cousin that he's a comic book nerd and like I'm a comic book nerd. But I didn't know that because sometimes it's like you know you know we're always like he was like man.

Langston Clark: 50:16

People didn't notice man, but I was a comic book nerd growing up and I didn't tell nobody because for him it was kind of like a nerdy, geeky thing to do, but for me it wasn't. So we never shared that. But if we had Monocle I can go and his Monocle like, oh, you read that Wolverine, that black panther, that Nick Fury or whatever you know it. So I see the way that people build community around literacy and learning and reading that this, this could be something very special.

Uthman Alibalogun: 50:41

So yeah, so appreciate that. So that's the plan, that's the plan.

Langston Clark: 50:47

So part of our mission at afternoon appetite is to build community, promote intellectuals and support black businesses, and so the question I want to ask you is how can this audience support Monocle and what you are they're trying to do?

Uthman Alibalogun: 51:01

Yeah. So definitely the biggest support is just really like following us right now and, you know, signing up for our beta release. Our website is read on Monocle calm and our social media handles are me make sure I'm telling you the right thing. I believe everything is read on Monocle. Yeah, so website read on Monocle calm. Instagram read on Monocle Tick tock read on Monocle like we share our tick tock on and Twitter as well. So definitely the biggest thing.

Langston Clark: 51:38

And, last but not least, because we have origins as a book club. What books are you reading or what books have currently inspired your journey?

Uthman Alibalogun: 51:49

Yeah, definitely so. Since it's the top of the year, I definitely wanted to revisit a book that I felt is really shaped. I like looked at a lot of things. It's called essentialism, the discipline, pursuit of less, so that one is really helping me understand the term less but better, and really trying to get myself better and honed in on the opportunities that I feel are going to provide the most for return. But prior to that, I finished rereading the book shoot off by Phil Knight, and it's a lot about his story of finding, of creating Nike and like that's like top five books for me. Man, that's, that's like. I read his book and he's the reason why I went to Japan like I. It was just, it was a beautiful read.

Langston Clark: 52:38

Wait a minute. You got to talk about Japan a little bit now. I'm sorry. When did you go to Japan? What was the experience like? Was it for school? Was it for business? Was it just a trip? What's up with what's up with Japan?

Uthman Alibalogun: 52:48

So I read on shoot off. So I read shoot off, initially sometime like two, two years ago, and in my mind I always knew that I wanted to like go to Japan and climb Mount Fuji, right? So, like you know, last year, in 2023, I was laid off in March and I was still laid off around the time of our birthday, which was July, and I was like you know what, let me hit my bucket list item and go to Japan. So I went to Japan for a week and I got the opportunity to climb out Fuji and it was just like whoa. Like you know, it's something about like reading about something and then connecting it like to real life.

Uthman Alibalogun: 53:25

Because it's funny, because Phil Knight, he he took a time of like a year where he went to travel the world, essentially, and that's what led him to create Nike, implicitly, right? So I went to some of the similar places that he went to. So he had went to Japan, he went to Greece. I was low key, like chasing him a bit, some type of similar inspiration there, but it was. It was a great experience.

Langston Clark: 53:53

All right Move men to leave a login. Thank you for joining our appetite. Aggie Pride. Thank you for your time and those in the audience go support Monocle.

Uthman Alibalogun: 54:03

So, Aggie Pride, Thanks for having me.

Langston Clark: 54:07

That was good bro.