In 2013, a pair of entrepreneurs in central California launched Bitwise Industries, an incubator for technology startups with three goals in mind: to provide opportunities for young intellectual talent, to slow the brain drain from the region, and to raise the bar for diversity, equity and inclusion that were lacking elsewhere in the tech community. In this episode, co-founders Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. discuss their intentions and hopes for their company.

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Bitwise Industries, a one-time technology darling in Fresno, California, began to grow beyond Fresno to other California cities and, later, to other states. But beneath the façade of rapid expansion, those behind the scenes could see trouble looming on the horizon. In this episode, hear how disillusionment began to creep into the narrative that Bitwise’s founders wove.

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In May 2023, 10 years after Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. founded Bitwise Industries in Fresno, California, the once promising company collapsed amid an abrupt financial meltdown. About 900 workers in California and the U.S. lost their jobs without warning, investors and lenders lost tens of millions of dollars, Bitwise filed for bankruptcy, and the co-founders were charged and ultimately convicted of fraud. In this episode, hear about the company’s demise and the continuing fallout.

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In 2013, Bitwise Industries aimed to build Fresno’s tech scene. Ten years later, the company shocked the city, leaving employees unpaid, investors and lenders owed millions, and its founders facing federal fraud charges.

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