The career of Colin Kroll, cofounder of Vine and HQ Trivia who has died at age 34

After the acquisition, Kroll served as an engineering manager in Yahoo's search and advertising technology, or SATG, group.

Source: Crunchbase, AdAge

Source: LinkedIn

Vine officially launched in January 2013 as a way to capture and share six-second looping videos on the platform.

Kroll initially served as chief technology officer at Vine, and became general manager in 2013.

Source: All Things D, AdWeek, Twitter, LinkedIn

Vine operated in New York City, across the country from Twitter's headquarters, and reportedly had various managerial issues, internal politics, and struggled to retain talent.

Twitter shut down Vine for good in 2016.

Source: The Verge, AdWeek, The Verge, Business Insider

According to Recode, Kroll was fired from Twitter for poor management, and had earned a reputation for inappropriate behavior toward women.

When this came to light in 2018, Kroll said in a statement, "I was let go from Vine four years ago for poor management. It was a painful experience, but an eye-opening one that served as a catalyst for professional development and greater awareness in the office. I now realize that there are things I said and did that made some feel unappreciated or uncomfortable. I apologize to those people."

Source: TechCrunch, Recode, Axios

HQ Trivia — a live, game show-style quiz app — launched in August 2017 with Kroll serving as chief technology officer.

The app was an instant viral hit, thanks in part to its silly, charismatic host and the ability to win real cash prizes. Earlier this year, the app was at the top of the App Store charts for weeks at a time.

But just as quickly as the app went viral, its popularity faded and it faced internal turmoil of its own. In September, the company reportedly forced out Yusupov as CEO and replaced him with Kroll. And shortly before Kroll was appointed CEO, an HQ Trivia employee reportedly filed a complaint over Kroll's "aggressive management style."

Despite HQ's issues, the company had announced plans for a second "Wheel of Fortune"-style game and has been earning money off sponsorship deals and in-app purchases.

HQ closed a $15 million funding round in March and is expected to do $10 million in revenue in 2018.

Source: Recode

TMZ was first to report the death of the tech executive, while The Daily Beast and others confirmed the story with New York Police Department sources.

The latter said he was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Saturday night. He was pronounced dead on the scene at 12:18 a.m. on Sunday, it added.

TMZ said his death was caused by an "apparent drug overdose," although this is not yet verified. Kroll was discovered by police after his girlfriend was unable to make contact with him, TMZ added.

"We learned today of the passing of our friend and founder, Colin Kroll, and it's with deep sadness that we say goodbye," HQ wrote in a statement on Twitter. "Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time."

Source: Business Insider