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Colin Kroll

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Colin Kroll
BornMay 17, 1984
Rye, New York or Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Diedc. (aged 34)
New York City, U.S.
Alma materOakland University
OccupationEntrepreneur
Years active2007–2018
Known forCo-founded Vine and HQ Trivia

Colin Kroll (May 17, 1984[1][2] – c. December 16, 2018[3]) was an American entrepreneur who co-founded the video hosting service Vine and the trivia game app HQ Trivia.

Early life and education

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Kroll was born in Rye, New York, or Detroit, Michigan, the son of Alan Kroll.[1][4][2] After his parents' divorce when he was 10, Kroll was raised in the suburbs of Detroit, graduating from Bloomfield Hills Andover High School, and then dropping out of community college to work on coding projects for local businesses.[5]

Kroll eventually returned to school, attending Oakland University where he studied computer science.[5][6][7]

Career

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Kroll worked as an engineering manager at Right Media, a subsidiary of Yahoo!, from 2007 to 2009 and as chief technology officer at Jetsetter from 2009 to 2013.[5][8] He met Rus Yusupov and Dom Hofmann while working at Jetsetter. Hofmann, Kroll and Yusupov founded the video hosting service Vine.[9][10] Kroll worked as general manager of Vine through 2014.[7] Vine was acquired by Twitter in 2012 (though was shut down 4 years later).[11] After working at Twitter following the acquisition, Kroll was dismissed following "bad management" and extensive allegations of workplace sexual harassment of women.[9] Kroll and his business partner Yusupov formed Intermedia Labs, the company behind HQ Trivia.[10] The real-time trivia game app was launched in 2017, climbing to the top of Apple's free game app chart during the early months of 2018. Kroll and another board member forced Yusupov, who was the CEO of Intermedia Labs, out of his position and Kroll took over as CEO in September 2018.[3][12]

Death

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Police were called to Kroll's apartment in SoHo, Manhattan shortly after midnight on December 16, 2018, when his girlfriend became concerned after making multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact him by phone throughout the previous day.[5][13] Kroll was found dead in his bedroom[3] of a drug overdose.[14] Drugs found in his system include fentanyl, 4-Fluoroisobutyrfentanyl, heroin and cocaine, the New York City medical examiner said,[15] ultimately determining Kroll's cause of death to be "accidental overdose by fentanyl-laced heroin."[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Vine and HQ Trivia co-founder Colin Kroll found dead at 34". Silicon Angle. December 16, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "January 03, 2019 (vol. , iss. 1) - Image 32". The Detroit Jewish News Digital Archives. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Wattles, Jackie (December 16, 2018). "Colin Kroll, co-founder of HQ Trivia and Vine, found dead". CNN Business.
  4. ^ "Colin Kroll, Co-Founder Of Vine And HQ Trivia Found Dead - CBS Detroit". www.cbsnews.com. December 17, 2018. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e Ramachandran, Shalini; Kanno-Youngs, Zolan; Koh, Yoree (February 15, 2019). "The Tech Whiz Behind Vine and HQ Trivia Made Millions in His 20s. He Was Dead by 34". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. ^ Spangler, Todd (December 16, 2018). "HQ Trivia and Vine Co-Founder Colin Kroll Dies at 34". Variety. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  7. ^ a b C., Wheeler, Jill (August 15, 2016). Vine. New York: ABDO Digital. ISBN 9781680775792. OCLC 1003742778.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Ferré-Sadurní, Luis; Maheshwari, Sapna (December 16, 2018). "HQ Trivia and Vine Co-Founder Colin Kroll Dies, Apparently of Overdose, Police Say". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Wagner, Kurt (December 18, 2017). "HQ Trivia's founders are facing fundraising roadblocks after investors learned of alleged bad behavior". Recode. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Graham, Megan (January 16, 2018). "HQ Trivia's Scott Rogowsky Doesn't Want You To Cheat (And Yes, Those Eyebrows Are All Natural)". Advertising Age. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  11. ^ Heine, Christopher (October 27, 2016). "Twitter Just Shut Down Vine 4 Years After Buying It for $30 Million". Adweek. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  12. ^ Vega, Nicolas (September 19, 2018). "Controversial HQ Trivia co-founder named CEO". New York Post.
  13. ^ Gioino, Catherina; DeSantisi, Rachel; Ray, Esha (December 16, 2018). "Vine, HQ Trivia co-founder Colin Kroll dead at 34 of apparent drug overdose in SoHo apartment". New York Daily News. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  14. ^ Lomas, Natasha. "HQ Trivia and Vine co-founder Colin Kroll found dead of suspected overdose". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  15. ^ "Colin Kroll, co-founder of Vine and HQ Trivia, died of accidental drug overdose: medical examiner". WPIX 11 New York. February 5, 2019. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
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