Frno, CA Gay Pri Events | Eventbre

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Comment on this story</tle><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg></button><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-fBEbFG">Comment</span><span class="wpds-c-fOvfhP wpds-c-fOvfhP-kshkDy-isCommentType-te none" aria-hidn="te"><span class="ment-unt font-xxxxs sc-ral-unt"><span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="teaser-ntent grid-center"><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">FRESNO, Calif. — The -founrs were ually ebullient, but on this emergency vio ll they sat together ashen. Always attentive to optics, they drsed black to liver the grave news: Their -old start-up, once celebrated as the hopeful future of the technology dtry, was out of money, and their hundreds of employe were out of jobs.</p></div></div><div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The pany, Bwise Indtri, started wh a grand visn. The founrs, Jake Soberal and Irma Olgu Jr., promised to uplift margalized muni and change the narrativ of unrtimated plac, like this hard-luck cy California’s Central Valley.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Over the years, the two -chief executiv had transformed Bwise om a small dg amy to an ascendant player the technology world, wh some 900 workers, offic eight stat, high-profile vtors and a valuatn of several hundred ln dollars, all while cultivatg a pany culture based on clivy and progrsive valu.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But what began as a unique succs story end spectacular<b> </b>fashn.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Late on Memorial Day, over a glchy Google Meet ll lastg six mut, Soberal and Olgu livered the ath knell for Bwise, cg “some extremely adverse fancial events” that forced the pany to furlough all of s workers, cludg the two of them. “Tonight will be hard and tomorrow will be hard and we don’t know what happens next,” Olgu said on the ll, a rerdg of which was obtaed by The Washgton Post. “This super sucks.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">This ll, the last time the founrs would addrs their pany, was an earthshakg moment for a workplace whose lears spired so much loyalty that several employe shared matchg <a href=" target=_blank>tattoos</a> wh Olgu. In the weeks sce, an alarmg picture of the fal months of the pany has emerged, one rife wh warng signs and red flags: bounced paychecks and missg 401(k) ntributns, lquent property tax and profligate spendg.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Former employe are owed thoands of dollars. Some are ep medil bt, while others are stgglg to pay rent. “I tsted them. We all did,” said Katra Riggs, who worked on the Bwise marketg team for two years. “I am still rencilg . That ia of how n somethg so good end so awfully. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to unls I have answers.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The Bwise board fired Soberal and Olgu days after the vio ll, then dismissed all of s workers and filed for bankptcy. Lawsus agast the pany and s oted CEOs are pilg up. Meanwhile, feral thori have opened an vtigatn, acrdg to three cy officials. Soberal, Olgu and two of the three Bwise board members intified bankptcy filgs did not rpond to repeated requts for ment. The third board member cled to ment through a spokperson.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Technology has been billed as a powerful force for good stgglg ci across the natn, but the meltdown at Bwise — and the impacts that have reverberated om Frno to Buffalo — shows the perils of relyg on a rapidly changg dtry and the risk of bettg the rebirth of a cy on the succs of a start-up wh lofty goals.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“We were hoodwked,” said Frno Cy Council member Mike Karbassi. “It is alarmg to me how many people bought to the hype. Bwise ed those people. They palized on them. They ro this wave until the very last send and hung people out to dry.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><h3 data-qa="article-hear" class=" pb-sm pt-md" id="J6UNNVGUQVBYDKPE3UACNAQ24I"><div>‘Sellg a dream’</div></h3></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The swelterg San Joaqu Valley is Ameri’s breadbasket, and is far more famo for s crops than s dg. But 2013, two lols set out to change that. Soberal, an tellectual property lawyer his late 20s, and Olgu, a puter scientist her early 30s, found Bwise Frno, a cy of 500,000 and the largt the regn.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">They were amb om the start, wrg on an early versn of the pany webse that they were buildg “the mothership of technologil tn, llaboratn and novatn.” This was pecially challengg Frno, a cy wh ep <a href=" target=_blank>equi</a> that is home to some of Ameri’s wealthit neighborhoods and some of s most ncentrated poverty.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Soberal and Olgu said their own backgrounds helped them see opportuny the cy’s equaly. Soberal’s father, a Mexin immigrant, grew up poor East Los Angel, while Olgu, who intifi as queer, is the dghter of farmworkers and the first her fay to go to llege. They ma creatg opportuni for unrreprented groups a central part of their burgeong bs.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image-group"><div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Bwise and the founrs quickly garnered glowg attentn, lolly and natnally. The Atlantic <a href=" target=_blank>chronicled</a> the pany’s rise, and opened a splashy new buildg, the first of several historil stctur a drab swath of downtown that Bwise renovated and vered s lorful brandg. Officials would later say this <a href=" target=_blank>vtment</a> the cy center helped kick-start a downtown revalizatn mpaign that ntu today.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In 2016, Soberal and Olgu penned an open letter <a href=" target=_blank>promisg</a> to brg 250,000 tech jobs to Frno. To support this new enomy, they said they would build a 2.5 ln-square-foot mp and a tra that would crisscross the unty, nnectg ral areas to the cy an attempt to make the Central Valley look more like Silin Valley.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“It was a very strong story and a sperately need one for a regn of folks who don’t have accs to dg and tech,” said Miguel Arias, who reprents downtown Frno on the cy uncil. “They uld teach a master’s urse on brandg and sellg a dream.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Acrdg to the pany and many of s former workers, did for a time<b> </b>produce rults. Bwise traed thoands of stunts natnwi, the majory of them people of lor and women.<b> </b>Some took jobs wh the pany while others found work outsi on their own. It also offered -workg spac and a nsultg branch.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In Frno, helped create more than 15,000 tech jobs over the last 10 years, a pany <a href=" target=_blank>executive</a> said Febary. The aggregated wag of those jobs totaled over $250 ln and creased the GDP of the cy by 1 percent, the executive claimed.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The unlikely start-up succs also generated a ls quantifiable mody: hope. “Bwise was the darlg of Frno,” said Jim Boren, the director of the Instute for Media and Public Tst at California State Universy at Frno and the former executive edor of the Frno Bee. “We wanted to believe what reprented beyond jt a tech hub.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><h3 data-qa="article-hear" class=" pb-sm pt-md" id="EN524IZOJNA4XGYYZHYGU2EJLE"><div>‘Bee a giant ourselv’</div></h3></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In June 2019, Bwise ma a tone <a href=" target="_blank">announcement</a>: It had raised $27 ln venture pal fundg, the first big sh jectn to fund s expansn outsi of Frno. But as the pany grew, cracks began to show.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Will Dyck, a Frno veloper who beiend Soberal 2014, partnered wh Bwise early on, joed s board and helped fance the renovatn of four downtown buildgs. By 2019, however, he had grown creasgly dismayed by the rate at which the pany was burng sh whout creasg s revenue,<b> </b>he said. He left the board, bought Bwise out of the buildgs and beme s landlord.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“There was never a bs mol,” Dyck said. “It was an ia.” Yet the pany ntued to ga momentum. The <a href=" target="_blank" class="ntextual_lk">ronavis</a> panmic and the racial jtice reckong seemed to validate the Bwise approach and supercharge s growth.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">California Gov. Gav Newsom (D) heaped praise on the <a href=" target="_blank">pany</a>, sayg was the center of “a remarkable enomic story Frno and the Central Valley.” Tens of lns new fundg <a href=" target="_blank">poured </a>. The ambns for Bwise grew. “It’s time to stop expectg tech giants to be better and stead bee a giant ourselv,” pany lears wrote Febary 2021.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Ls than a year later, the legal trouble began. Dyck and a group of other bs partners sued Bwise and Soberal, accg them of breachg their ntract on the velopment of a 100,000-square-foot historil warehoe that would host the new pany headquarters. The lawsu was settled out of urt later 2022.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Around this time, Bwise was valued at $257 ln by third-party pany Carta, which noted s report that the firm “has not achieved profabily as of the Valuatn Date and do not project nsistent margs or stable sh flows the near-term.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Even as the pany expand further, <a href=" target=_blank>unveilg</a> plans for a Buffalo office Augt 2022, s fancial stra grew more ser. Later that year, unty rerds show, Bwise began missg property tax payments at s Frno buildgs.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div id="gift-share-le" data-ttid="gift-share-le" class="PJLV PJLV-ilotWTr-css hi-for-prt"><button aria-haspopup="dialog" aria-expand="false" aria-ntrols="gift-share-drawer" role="button" tabx="0" aria-label="Share this article" id="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-le" data-ttid="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-le" class="wpds-c-PJLV wpds-c-gsmDXe wpds-c-gsmDXe-goNocI-placement-Inle foc-highlight"><div data-ttid="gift-share-terstial-trigger" class="wpds-c-kPqOkS wpds-c-kPqOkS-jtSXsT-hasSubsText-false"><span class="wpds-c-hBJqc"><span class="wpds-c-dzSncg">Share this article</span></span><span class="wpds-c-eCvK"><span class="wpds-c-enedHQ wpds-c-enedHQ-cCdK-isShown-false">Share</span><svg xmlns=" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 16 16" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp wpds-c-fDHGth"><path fill="currentColor" d="M8 .6v3.8h.1c-4.4 0-7.3 4.5-6.9 8.8.1.8.2 1.2.2 1.2l.2 1 .4-1.3c.8-2 2-4 6.2-3.9H8v4l7-6.9L8 .6Zm1 11.3V9.3h-.9c-3 0-4.8.5-6.2 2.9.5-3.3 2.7-6.8 6.2-6.8H9V3l4.5 4.4L9 11.9Z"></path></svg></span></div></button></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But the boom-bt cycle ntued at the pany. In Febary, <a href=" target="_blank">announced</a> $80 ln new fundg, s largt round on rerd, brgg s total venture pal vtments to nearly $160 ln.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“It got so giant and so many important people need a return on their vtment,” said Trevor Ford, an art director at Bwise who worked there for nearly four years. “Everyone hears about the chickens they pump so full of hormon they n’t even stand on their legs. That’s Bwise.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><h3 data-qa="article-hear" class=" pb-sm pt-md" id="M3OYEEAD7NBFTKPQG75PY6WPCI"><div>‘Man, I hope ’s good’</div></h3></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The red flags for workers look brighter hdsight. In March, Bwise employe began regularly receivg paper checks stead of the ual direct pos payments. Around that time, some noticed the pany was no longer posg money employee retirement acunts.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But Bwise lears always seemed to have an explanatn, several employe said, and Soberal and Olgu had earned their tst. Still, some workers harbored doubts. In an April email to the staff, Olgu told employe that the pany would be swchg to paper checks permanently.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Your anxiety may be tryg to tell you, ‘OMG the bs is failg, we’re out of money,’” Olgu wrote. “No. That’s not what this is about. We’re lerally tryg to make your liv simpler and remove uncertaty.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">This email me the same week that Bwise missed another round of property tax payments on the Frno buildgs and as fell behd rent to Dyck, the landlord said. Meanwhile, Soberal was antilly workg the phon. One of many he lled was Agri Capal, a lenr neighborg Mara County.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Soberal assured the firm’s chief fancial officer that Bwise was thrivg fancially and that s $257 ln valuatn was actually a lowball: The pany was probably worth $500 ln, Soberal said emails that beme public after Agri Capal filed su last month. Even so, Bwise need a $5 ln loan, fast.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">That was bee, Soberal said, the pany need to repay another bt but uld not draw om the $65 ln had the bank due to a separate agreement wh Goldman Sachs, which, he said, had a “liquidy venant” that required Bwise to keep a certa amount of sh on hand.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image-group"><div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Goldman Sachs, Soberal claimed, was also preparg to lead another massive $80 ln round of fancg for the pany. Agri Capal agreed to loan $1 ln. However, a Goldman Sachs spokperson disputed both of Soberal’s claims. No such liquidy venant existed, the spokperson told The Post, and Goldman Sachs had no pendg vtment wh Bwise.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Agri Capal cled to ment, but s attorneys wrote the lawsu filg that Bwise lears “soliced money by craftg a false narrative of fancial fortune and stabily to lure unspectg vtors who believed the pany’s missn.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In late May, as word got out that the pany was sperate, Soberal gave an <a href=" target=_blank>terview</a> to GV Wire, a lol news outlet. When asked about the fancial health of the pany, Soberal replied, “Man, I hope ’s good. We’re really exced about the future over here.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Six days later, Soberal and Olgu announced the mass furlough. Then on June 29, Bwise and s associated limed liabily pani filed for Chapter 7 bankptcy, an ditn the board do not tend to reanize the bs. Cy officials are now sctizg the pany’s claims about job growth and revenue.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Feral thori are also vtigatg the pany’s activi, a Frno cy official wh direct knowledge of the probe said. The FBI has requted all fancial documents Bwise has filed wh the cy sce 2013, the official said.<b> </b>Two other cy officials said they were also rmed of the probe. The three officials spoke on the ndn of anonymy bee they were not permted to discs an active vtigatn. The Jtice Department and FBI cled to ment, cg a long-standg practice to neher nfirm nor ny vtigatns.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Soberal and Olgu have not spoken publicly sce their vio ll, and msag to them — om reporters and former employe — have gone unanswered. At their hom Frno on a recent afternoon, the lights were off and the shas pulled shut.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><h3 data-qa="article-hear" class=" pb-sm pt-md" id="5TPIK7L74RBINA6HKBRLWZGNZM"><div>‘We’ve all been abandoned’</div></h3></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Nearly every employee terviewed for this report strsed that Bwise was not a normal workplace. Employe played wh Nerf guns, sailed down hallways on soters and were iends wh their boss.<b> </b>It was a muny of like-md people who believed they were part of an effort to make life better the ci where they operated.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">When the start-up sudnly llapsed, left nearly 1,000 people reelg. For most, was their dream job. For many, Bwise was a safe place, whether they were Black, Brown, gay, trans or formerly rcerated. They had ee health surance and unlimed time off.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Now, the same people Bwise helped are stgglg. There is Moni McCutcheon, who was one of the first hir at Bwise Buffalo. When she started, the sgle mother of four was nng her own small bs and Olgu asked her to close to foc on Bwise. “Irma said, ‘I’ll make your life better,’” McCutcheon said.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">And for about two years, she did. McCutcheon and her children moved to a better neighborhood. Christmas was no longer strsful. She uld fally afford a new r. But her last paycheck me more than two months ago. Her r was recently reposssed and she’s not sure how she’ll bble together the money for rent.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“I went out and did my bt to put forward somethg good that I thought uld work for Buffalo,” McCutcheon said. “I thought the people had changed my life, so I wanted to change someone else’s life. It is embarrassg. Sce this happened, I haven’t told a lot of people.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">About 500 away, Ayoka Samuels was dreadg checkg her mail. The former vice print of Bwise Chigo knew what might be wag there: another medil bill. After the furlough announcement, the pany nceled employee health surance whout warng, Samuels said. The next day her son got a r crash, swervg to avoid a er near his llege town southern Illois.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">An ambulance took him to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed wh a broken wrist. The only orthopedic surgeon town, a private doctor, ran the surance rd for Samuels, but was rejected. Her son’s procre would st $11,000. “At that moment, I sat down the wag room and burst to tears,” Samuels said. “You do everythg you n for your children and that moment, I felt like I uldn’t.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">They skipped the surgery and Samuels and her hband drove their son back to Chigo, to a hospal acctomed to workg wh patients who uld not afford pricey medil optns. Her son is healg, but the bills keep g. The fay’s medil bt is at $13,500 and climbg. “It is like an earthquake, you didn’t know was g,” she said. “And for the last 35 days, the aftershocks, I still feel them.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The shocks are pecially strong Frno. Lots of people said Bwise was like fay, but for Chris Ramos, was lerally te. Ramos, his hband and his mother all worked for the pany Frno. Growg up gay the nservative cy, Ramos thought he would have to move away to fd a muny that weled him. But he found Bwise.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“We were a shg example of what we uld do our cy,” Ramos said. “It felt amazg to be a part of a movement like that.” Ramos and his fay were close wh Bwise lears. It is the silence, om Soberal and Olgu, but also om the Bwise board, that has been harst to bear, he said.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“I love them too, but that is why I’m angry, bee I tsted them and I was vulnerable wh them,” said Ramos, who was one of the employe to get a matchg tattoo wh Olgu, an homage to the historil archecture of a Bwise buildg. “They took all the most vulnerable people and vted , and we return vted them. And we’ve all been abandoned.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Ramos said he believ the work Bwise started Frno and elsewhere will ntue, and some former employe have already <a href=" target="_blank">lnched</a> their own pani. They have also filed a class-actn su agast Bwise, Olgu and Soberal.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Lol officials are hopg that even wh the pany’s foldg, the cy n build on the momentum started. The state has <a href=" target=_blank>allotted</a> $250 ln for astcture work the re of Frno, which officials say will help bounce back after Bwise.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But the fall of what was billed as a succsful homegrown bs has nohels hurt. Asi om lost jobs and revenue, the cle of Bwise has taken a symbolic toll on the longed-for turnaround Frno. Durg a recent weekday vis to the former pany headquarters, an old downtown to garage, the Bwise wg was empty, the halls eerie.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The acuntg office was a jumbled ms of pany fil and strand furnure. Its door bore the name of the wizard bank om the Harry Potter seri. Nearby, the rner office that Soberal and Olgu shared was bare. The landlord, Dyck, expects to fill the space soon, perhaps wh another start-up lookg to change the narrative Frno.</p></div><div class="wpds-c-dhzjXW wpds-c-dhzjXW-iPJLV-css mt-md grid-center grid-body"><div id="gift-share-end" data-ttid="gift-share-end" class="PJLV PJLV-idiqKOk-css hi-for-prt"><button aria-haspopup="dialog" aria-expand="false" aria-ntrols="gift-share-drawer" role="button" tabx="0" aria-label="Share this article" id="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-end" data-ttid="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-end" class="wpds-c-PJLV wpds-c-gsmDXe wpds-c-gsmDXe-iIVoLq-placement-Shortcut foc-highlight"><div class="wpds-c-UazGY" id="gift-share-shortcut" data-ttid="gift-share-shortcut"><svg xmlns=" fill="var(--wpds-lors-primary)" viewBox="0 0 16 16" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fVfumU "><path fill="currentColor" d="M8 .6v3.8h.1c-4.4 0-7.3 4.5-6.9 8.8.1.8.2 1.2.2 1.2l.2 1 .4-1.3c.8-2 2-4 6.2-3.9H8v4l7-6.9L8 .6Zm1 11.3V9.3h-.9c-3 0-4.8.5-6.2 2.9.5-3.3 2.7-6.8 6.2-6.8H9V3l4.5 4.4L9 11.9Z"></path></svg><div class="PJLV wpds-c-kwcHlj">Share</div></div></button></div><div class="wpds-c-hcekgi"><div class="mb-lg-mod" data-qa="ments-btn-div"><button aria-label="Scroll to the ments sectn" data-qa="ments-btn" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-eHdizY-nsy-flt wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-igqYgPb-css ments hi-for-prt"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp "><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg><span></span> Comments</button></div></div></div><div class="grid-center grid-body"><div></div></div></article><div class="centered-layout grid-layout"><div class="grid-center grid-mobile-full-bleed"><div class="hi-for-prt ml-to mr-to mt-md pt-lg recirc" data-qa="recirc"><div class="flex-l jtify-center hi-for-prt"><div class="pr-sm ml-sm ml-0-ns b-l br-l bc-gray-darkt more-om-post"><div></div><div class="dn db-l pb-md pt-md"><div data-qa="newsletter" class="hi-for-prt relative"><div class="dib w-100"><div><div class="flex jtify-center align self-center center transn-all duratn-400 ease--out" data-qa="sc-newsletter-signup" aria-label=""><svg aria-labelledby="react-aria-1-aria" role="img" viewBox="0 0 100 80"><tle id="react-aria-1-aria">Loadg... .