Some saw it as the future of media, and HQ Trivia spent much of January and February in the Top 10 list of most-downloaded free iPhone games. It's now fluctuating between #250 and 500 in the U.S. Also, Kroll was dealing with an H.R. Adding to the drama is the fact that an HQ employee filed a formal complaint to HR in August against new CEO Colin Kroll for his aggressive management style, according to multiple sources. Kroll was also the co-founder of Vine and was General Manager between 2013 and 2014. He was previously fired from Twitter for poor management, and his behavior toward some female colleagues during his time at Twitter made some people uncomfortable. In an email announcing the change to company investors, Yusupov, who is now HQ’s chief creative officer, said that he “stepped down”; he characterized the move as “just an evolution of our partnership as we grow as entrepreneurs and leaders.” In reality, Yusupov was upset. He also was a founder of Vine, which was an app built around six-second videos, and worked for a period at Twitter.  HQ Trivia CEO Colin Kroll Dead at 34 Apparent Drug OD 
 
 HQ Trivia Co-Founder and CEO Colin Kroll Dead at 34 of Apparent Drug Overdose 
 
 EXCLUSIVE 
 
 Colin Kroll, the CEO and co-founder of HQ Trivia, has died of an apparent drug overdose ... TMZ has learned. Kroll and Yusupov are both working with an executive coach, according to multiple sources, which is not uncommon for business executives.
– Colin Kroll, a tech executive who co-founded the HQ Trivia app, has died. He was 35, the AP reports. The New York Police Department says officers went to Kroll's Manhattan apartment early Sunday after getting a call asking for a wellness check on him. They found him unconscious and unresponsive on his bed. He was pronounced dead at the scene. TMZ says he "died of an apparent drug overdose," but the medical examiner's office will determine cause of death. Kroll was the chief executive of the trivia app, which live-streams short trivia shows to users and became popular after its release in 2017. He also was a founder of Vine, which was an app built around six-second videos, and worked for a period at Twitter. But Vine was scuttled four years after Twitter bought it in 2012, and HQ Trivia had fallen in popularity, falling from iTunes' list of 100 free games, per CNN. What's more, Intermedia Labs—a business he co-founded that created HQ Trivia—was said to be in disorder. Kroll recently ousted co-founder Rus Yusupov and engaged in behavior that one source told Re/Code was "inappropriate and unprofessional." Kroll had been fired from Twitter for poor managerial skills, and had a reputation for behaving poorly with some female colleagues—although a Kroll probe by an outside investigator "yielded no concerns," the company said.