Colin Kroll, co-founder of Vine, has been found dead aged 35
The co-founder and chief executive of the HQ Trivia app has been found dead in his lower Manhattan apartment yesterday morning, according to police.
Colin Kroll was found facedown on his bed after a woman rang 911 and asked for a police check-up in SoHo. Cocaine and heroin were discovered in his home.
Kroll also co-founded the formerly popular six-second video app Vine, which he sold to Twitter in 2012.
The app then closed down last year, and Kroll went on to work for Twitter before being fired for 'poor management' following allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour towards women.
When HQ Trivia debuted in August 2017, the app became a viral sensation after millions of people came together for a livestreaming-interactive game which inspired numerous imitations.
Anyone who participates has the hope of winning money from answering trivia questions on their phones.
Rus Yusupov founded HQ Trivia alongside Colin Kroll, and has yet to respond to his death.
We learned today of the passing of our friend and founder, Colin Kroll, and it's with deep sadness that we say goodbye. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.
— HQ Trivia (@hqtrivia) December 16, 2018
The norm is that comedians host the game show on their phones, and the difficulty of the questions increases by the round.
The company raised $15 million in venture capital funding, but Mr Kroll's workplace history deterred many investors, yet Mr Kroll has always denied that he ever sexually harassed women at work.
In a statement to Axios, he said;
“It was a painful experience, but an eye-opening one that served as a catalyst for professional development and greater awareness in the office.”
He continued;
“I now realise that there are things I said and did that made some feel unappreciated or uncomfortable. I apologise to those people. Today, I’m committed to building HQ Trivia into a culture-defining product and supporting the dedicated team that makes it all possible.”
In an interview with The New York Times last year, the entrepreneur said the company preferred to be based in NYC instead of San Francisco.
The Detroit native said that;
"Our inspiration is more from media and TV than it is from technology.” Livestreaming gaming platforms such as Twitch inspired the creation of HQ Trivia.
Kroll had previously worked as an engineering manager for Yahoo from 2007 to 2009, and then as chief technology officer at Jetsetter from 2009 to 2013, so had a wealth of technological and software engineering knowledge.
The cause of Colin Kroll's death has yet to be revealed.
