Silicon Valley investors are growing weary of popular app HQ Trivia.
The app's success this year is what propelled founders Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll to attempt a new funding round, hoping to acquire a valuation as steep as $100 million.
Yet investors are apparently stepping away. Not because of the app, though — but because one of the founders reportedly has a record of behaving inappropriately toward women, on top of being a bad manager.
Colin Kroll Is Hampering HQ Trivia's Potential Funding
As Recode reports, many well-known venture capitalists aren't willing to participate in HQ Trivia's planned funding round. At least three prominent investors have decided against being involved with Yusupov and Kroll's startup after discovering, through due diligence, the aforementioned misconduct.
In particular, the investors are reportedly concerned about Kroll's time on Twitter, during which he was apparently an inefficient leader. Kroll was general manager for Vine in 2014, but he was fired from Twitter 18 months after the company acquired Vine, according to Recode, citing multiple sources.
He was reportedly "abrasive and disinterested," and the 15 colleagues Recode spoke to noted he could be verbally abusive to them. He also had a reputation for showing up to work late, disheveled, and hungover.
Colin Kroll Creepy Toward Women
He also apparently garnered a reputation for being "creepy" toward women that brought out their discomfort, says numerous former colleagues. This reputation shooed away one investor who was supposed to throw money at HQ Trivia. A second one apparently went further and looked at Kroll's background, calling his behavior "egregious."
Then there's the other founder, Yusupov, whose most notable offense was his treatment of Taylor Lorenz, a reporter who was intending to write an article about HQ Trivia's host, Scott Rogowsky, but was verbally abused by Yusupov. He later apologized for his actions.
It's not entirely clear what happens to HQ Trivia now. Investors hope the app could evolve from its communal quiz show status into a legitimate business that can anchor the company when its viral appeal wanes.
For the uninitiated, HQ Trivia is an app where users can participate in a live online quiz show to answer all kinds of trivia based on subjects ranging from movies to chemistry to physics to history to sports — basically anything under and beyond the sun. It's a clever and highly appealing concept, but investors want to know whether it's just a fad or it can grow into something more sure-footed because as history dictates, the internet rapidly outgrows fads and gimmicks.
Also, with Kroll and Yusupov's unpleasant reputations in full display, it's not clear if the startup will be able to secure significant funding.
