It was a sad day for the tech industry when the news broke that Colin Kroll, the founder of apps like Vine and HQ Trivia, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment. He was 34 years old. The cause of death has yet to be determined. Authorities suspect drug overdose and have disclosed that cocaine and heroin were also found in the apartment. Kroll was discovered dead when police were sent to do a wellness check-up after a female friend expressed concern.
Colin Kroll co-founded hugely popular apps like Vine and HQ Trivia, which have both gained cult-like followings. Vine was retired permanently last year after initially being purchased by Twitter. The app gave users the opportunity to record and share six second videos on the instagram-like app. The app quickly gained a massive following around the world, and had over 200 million active users by December 2015.
Vine was eventually shut down in 2017 because it just wasn’t as profitable as it needed to be. It also wasn’t appealing to advertisers because it didn’t have as big of a demographic as sites like Instagram, and everyone knows Twitter struggles to make the bank enough as it is. Despite being long gone, Vine remains a source of great meme content. Some of the more famous videos have cemented themselves into pop culture history.
Shortly after Kroll sold Vine to Twitter in 2012, he left the company and began working on a new project, HQ Trivia. Launched in 2017, the game-show app gives users the chance to earn cash prizes by answering trivia questions in ten seconds or less. Players can win cash prizes starting in small amounts up to hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars.
Remembering Colin Kroll
Co-founder Rus Yusupov posted a statement on twitter following the news of Colin Kroll’s death. Scott Rogowsky, the host of HQ Trivia, also made a statement on the app during the game this week.
So sad to hear about the passing of my friend and co-founder Colin Kroll. My thoughts & prayers go out to his loved ones. I will forever remember him for his kind soul and big heart. He made the world and internet a better place. Rest in peace, brother.
— Rus (@rus) December 16, 2018
Nik Sharma posted to Twitter remembering Colin Kroll:
I hope people look past the headline and remember how much joy and community he brought to so many millions of people, not to mention how many careers were built off of Vine and lives were changed for the better.
RIP
