Transcripts For CNN Glitch The Rise Fall of HQ Trivia 20240

>> it's s time to beat the cloc. >> are you tired of linenear, >> are you tired of linear, non-interactive television? >> you've won this game. you now have a chance to answer the jackpot question, dave hartley. >> don't even know what linear, non-interactive television means? >> you're right for $32,000. >> are you tired of the sort of television that just happens at you? >> well, let's see what you've won. it's a honeymoon trip to hawaii on your 50th anniversary. >> that you just sit in front of like a couch potato. >> hello? what's this? something wrong? >> come on. interact with me. >> this is hq, baby, the trivia game show on your phone, where you answer questions to win cash. >> so, $11.30. >> correct. >> i was just excited to win. >> to win. >> you're our winners, baby. >> so many people, they're dropping everything to play this game. >> we are talking about hq trivia. >> joining us now are the co-founders, colin kroll and rus yusupov. >> these guys in charge are smart. they've invented vine. they've invented hq. >> we grew up watching "jeopardy!" and "wheel of fortune." i mean, who doesn't want to be a contestant on a game show? >> let's get this show on the road. >> yeah, baby. >> it's both just a game and also an attempt to revolutionize television. >> yes! >> yes! >> yes! >> 2.3 million plus of you, the most hq players ever in a single game. >> with viewers in more than 80 countries. >> tech entrepreneurs are the new rock stars. >> can we give away a million dollars one day? i think so. >> we went from an evaluation of nothing to $100 million in six months. we had super bowl commercials, billboards in times square. couldn't walk down the street without getting mobbed for selfies. >> i have never seen this level of fandom. >> it can be a little overwhelming. >> it is overwhelming. >> i don't know what happened with hq. >> it's a lot of mystery. one big question mark. >> it was a weird thing because you're co-founders, you think you do start these things with your friends. but they didn't seem like friends. >> it wasn't a good relationship. it was 150% pure and utter business. and that's it. >> colin kroll's behavior was described as creepy at times, also egregious. >> colin speculating that rus is orchestrating this whole thing. >> you've got a real sense of game of thrones with the infighting. >> these men in the tech industry will steamroll you. >> if you show a sign of weakness, that will impact your fundraising. >> what do you love about yourself? >> everything. >> there was a lot of anxiety. >> is this going to exist? am i going to have a job? >> someone lost their life at the end of this. >> some people come into our lives and leave too soon. >> the way technology firms approach their operations is ready, fire, aim. and if there's a little collateral damage, you know, so be it. >> can we show the technical difficulties graphic? that's always a fun time, right? >> now, glitch, glitch, glitch. >> okay, winston is here right now with a bunch of tech news as well as what we have coming up a little later on. let's start, first of all, talking about vine. >> twitter's vine app is making youtube feel so six seconds ago. >> are you a viner? >> i'm not a viner, but i know all about it. >> that was a close one. >> vine started in 2012. instead of instagram where it's like a feed of just still photos back in the day, vine was short videos. >> who wants to get crazy for new year's? >> vine was most interesting in the fact of its limitations. you can only have a six-second video and you only get one shot to record it. >> it had created this cultural phenomenon where because the videos were so short, that let people make whole storyboards inside this tiny little time frame. >> wow, wow. y'all felt that turbulence? >> yeah. >> is everything all right. >> hey, i don't know. but text me if you make it, though. >> it had that comedic timing of everything ending right at its own climax that made it so addictive and you just scroll for hours. >> stupid. >> officer, i got one question for you. >> people shared video memes. >> what are those? >> that other people would share their own remixes and spins on. >> what are those? >> they are my crocs. >> creating this chain of inside jokes. i've even made a few very terrible vines myself. >> d-d-d-dj hand dryer. it's what pioneered the concept that powers tiktok today. >> to me it's like a video tease. i don't quite -- >> six seconds. it's an art form. >> that's it. >> so the founders of vine were colin kroll and rus yusupov. colin kroll, the engineer, was the big visionary, the one that saw the opportunity for this app and this long-term vision for how social media could change. >> we run in ec2. we're written in python. and we use a slew of open source technology. >> and rus was product designer and kind of the manager. >> i was just writing a bit of a bio. >> he was the one who could actually make it all happen, get all the pieces moving in the right direction and make sure the infrastructure was ready so people could share their creativity. >> if you see me now, tap on your screen. let me know that you guys are here. >> around may of 2012 we set out to make creating and sharing videos on mobile really fun and really easy. because at the time it was dreadful. and we knew there was a better way. >> twitter bought vine for a reported $30 million. >> colin kroll and rus yusupov sold vine to twitter for $30 million. >> they actually sold vine before it even launched. which was a very big surprise because most startups want to get big first and then get acquired. >> the video sharing app vine was launched just in january by twitter. >> when rus and colin sold vine to twitter, they went to work for twitter building out and popularizing this product. and they helped it go from zero to 60 million plus users. >> kroll, he sold vine. he's not yours, he's vine. >> you should call me on vine. >> woo! >> perhaps when they were in the quiet before, now being a part of twitter, everyone was like, well, who are these guys? and they were accepting awards and they were at every industry event. really being celebrated as founders. >> i mean you guys have grown so much and so many people are using it in creative ways. where do you see it going? >> i think we had no idea when we started and we're just holding on. >> nasa astronaut reid wiseman sent the first vine video from earth orbit out to his twitter followers. >> roger, 11. it certainly looks like you're well on your way now. >> but when you get acquired, you give up control. >> happy birthday to you. happy birthday dear -- >> unfortunately, when vine wasn't quite growing fast enough and twitter, its parent company was in a cash crunch, it shut down vine. >> twitter is shutting down the vine video app and laying off 350 people. >> which shocked the internet and stranded tons of creators who had built their livelihood on the app. >> hey bud, heard about vine. >> vine's shutting down. >> thank you guys for following me for the last few years. >> after twitter shut down vine, founder rus yusupov famously tweeted, don't sell your company. >> i think rus' tweet, it just showed, you know, instant regret. like, you know, what if? like, right, like if he hadn't sold the company, what would have happened to vine? >> vine was tiktok before tiktok was tiktok. so you got to think that every shareholder and manager at twitter has really reconsidered the decision to shut that thing down. and even though they only sold it for $30 million, let's assume that rus and colin each got $10 million. the difference between $10 million and a billion is meaningful. >> and i think that meant that they always had a bit of a chip on their shoulder of wanting to take another shot at building something truly big. >> i got a call from a friend of mine and he said, hey man, i'm working with these guys who started vine and they want to do this trivia show on the phone and we're looking for a host and i thought of you. you want to come in and audition for it? >> please give it up for scott rogowsky. >> i had never booked anything in new york, really, you know, when it came to auditioning for things. >> this is very exciting. this is my club debut. maybe you saw the full-page ad my mother took out in the west chester jewish chronicle. >> honestly, i put a decade into the comedy scene in new york, grinding it out. >> do you mind my laughing at you? >> i don't mind at all. i wish the audience would join you. >> i had the subway book cover video. so that was like, i had a little bit of recognition from that, but i had certainly not reached the point of getting offers from comedy central or network tv. so i decided to give up on new york and move to l.a. maybe i'll be discovered. that was my romantic ideal. gave up my apartment, thought, what the [ bleep ] one last audition. >> scott rogowsky, take one. >> scott, whenever you're ready, man, just roll. have fun. do whatever you want. >> all right. hello there. i'm your host, scott rogowsky. we're live from new york city, and we have a full house here in the studio. >> i showed up looking pretty unkempt in this moth-eaten sweater with my glasses, which i don't normally wear when i do those things. >> the first round of hype q starts in just a couple of minutes. >> no one really knew what this was. come up with a little intro for yourself. >> where am i? what is this place? >> come up with some jokes up top, and then just read the questions. >> first question of the day, where was the viral video titled double rainbow filmed? 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>> the entire job of both the startup founder and an investor is to predict the future. >> more and more of the video viewing that has historically happened on tv is happening through other channels now. >> and jeremy liew, famous for making a huge early investment in snapchat, was hq trivia's first big investor. >> because he saw it really as this new form of media really changing the game. >> went in on the first day to start generating graphics. what i really learned from rus was the art of minimalism. they handed me a sheet with about six colors, a circle, an x or a triangle, and rus was basically like, all right, now your job is to make this a whole universe. you know, because the idea is you're going to stare at this tiny screen for a long time. it's got to feel like it's really big. then, kind of as a favor, because scott's, you know, one of my best friends, out of all the people that auditioned, i took scott's footage and used it to develop the prototype. >> all right, first question. where was the viral video double rainbow filmed? >> once the people in charge saw that, they couldn't separate him from the app. >> yosemite national park, the correct answer. it's so beautiful. congrats to those of you who made it to the next round. >> i think i auditioned for hq in april, and in may, they said, hey man, like, you got the job. i said, great, okay, let's do this. so i came into the office, and at first meeting, my impressions of rus and colin were they had very much of that tech guy vibe. there was a vine pillow. i remember they put the vine pillow on the couch. i didn't use vine. i didn't have a vine account. six-second video. that, to me, spelled the death of show business. i've always been an old soul. i have books about jack benny and george burns and the marx brothers in my libraries. >> welcome, welcome to you bet your wife -- er, you bet your life. >> i love the old comedy. so, yeah, this newfangled, new age, live streaming on an app, like, to me, i didn't have high hopes for it. >> okay, all right. i think we're all locked in here. >> and the very first shows were just, you know, internal tests. >> first question of the day, what does the s in nasa stand for? >> just to make sure that you could, you know, tap an answer, and it would register. >> the answer's space. >> and the chat would work. >> let's see. >> then it was time to go live. >> this is live. this is not recorded. i'm talking to you right now. >> the first beta shows were catching on among, like, the new york tech community. >> thank you again for signing up. tell your friends about this. >> when i started, hq hadn't yet launched. it was still in beta. my husband signed up. we played every night. >> i'm going to ask you questions. you're going to answer the questions. if you get them right, you win 50 bucks. >> like, what's the catch, right? but there was no catch. you could actually win real money. >> next question. what is the most popular emoji used in france? >> i mean, you know, i was trying to make the questions funny. >> the heart emoji. >> a little risque. >> you know, it's funny. it's bill gates named his company after his penis. microsoft. >> we were shooting out this, like, makeshift closet. >> it's a trivia game live from this very warm studio. >> i was really excited to be there just watching this thing go live, like, from a room. everybody wanted to just, like, i call it, like, watch the baby grow. >> and we're back, baby. hq-cumbers. still working on that. it's scott. coming at you live on this monday. >> rus and colin. from what i understand, they were co-founders and they were, like, co-ceos. >> rus yusupov, co-founder of hq. thanks for being here. >> rus is the designer, and so he's supposed to be the more charismatic one. and, you know, he's got his tesla and, you know, had a vanity plate, viner, and just, like, you know, talking about bitcoin. >> i look up to the great entrepreneurs of our time. this is a controversial response, but i think mark zuckerberg has done an incredible job. i am an elon musk fanboy. >> you know, like, just one of these guys who's just, like, so into the whole status of being in tech. >> what do you love about yourself? >> everything. >> of course, ring around the rosy. pocket full of, i mean -- >> pocket full of what? >> diapers. >> rus, he was very hands-on. he was doing the pr, doing the design. >> fact-checked, verified. >> he was doing the wardrobe. >> scott's wardrobe. it was kind of comical. i was sent to go find suits for scott, and rus asked me to just, like, take photos of every outfit. i had so many photos of him. then rus was the one that ultimately, like, made the call to keep it or return it. >> rus and colin, they were almost polar opposites. i always got a sense from my very first day that colin was a little socially awkward. i've been in tech so long that, like, most engineers are awkward. he was a genius at his craft, but he didn't want to be seen. all he cared about was the product. >> joining us now are the co-founders, colin kroll and rus yusupov. >> colin did not enjoy being on camera. >> where's the prize money coming from now? >> from us, for now. >> and investors? >> very nervous. >> and what's your background? >> well, i've been doing comedy. >> you know, palm-sweating nervous. >> colin was so uncomfortable. he never wanted to be on camera again. >> we realize that we've created a new category. >> rus was definitely more like, you know, he wanted the limelight. he wanted to be on camera. >> we don't need a team of a thousand people. sponsors and advertisers are reaching out. we do have the flexibility to grow. >> so fairly early on, some cracks started to form, you know, especially in the relationship between rus and myself. >> but for now, someone thinks i'm dumb. the guy who owns this app thinks i'm dumb. the guy who hired me thinks i'm dumb. >> i don't think rus loved the fact that i was becoming the face of the product he created. you know, very early on, we had some awkward interactions over slack, in person, over text. >> this might be my last show because my boss thinks i'm dumb. so it was nice knowing you, good playing with you. >> but we started growing. >> hq launched in august 2017 with a few hundred people for the first game. >> we made it. this is hq. i'm scott, the host. this is a live trivia game that you play from your phone. >> every show had more viewers than the previous show. >> we got a long weekend coming up, people, and there's big money on the table today. fifty bucks. >> it was definitely a snowball coming down the mountain. ncy be. check. when uc got in my way, i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when my gastro saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least 1 heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc in check and keep it there, with rinvoq. ask your gastro about rinvoq. and learn how abbvie could help you save. okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition. together we support immune function. supply fuel for immune cells and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein. think he's posting about all that ancient roman coinage? no. he's making real-time money moves with merrill. so no matter what the market's doing, he's ready. and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. hi, i'm jason and i've lost 202 pounds on golo. being a veteran, the transition from the military into civilian life causes a lot of stress. i ate a lot for stress. golo and release has helped me with managing that stress and allowing me to focus on losing weight. for anyone struggling with weight and stress-related weight gain, i recommend golo to you. this is a real thing. this is not a hoax. you follow the plan, you'll lose weight. >> i'm scott, your host. we are live. looks like we have some people playing right now from forest hills high school in queens. >> i had heard about it from some of my students, and rather than try to fight for their attention, i decided that it would maybe be fun to, okay, let's play this. let's see what this is all about. and then we all kind of got hooked on it. >> what school are you representing? let me know in the chat there. >> apart from live sports or the oscars or something like that, there are very few live events that people commune around. >> now, if you answer this question correctly, madam, you win $50. >> originally, game shows on radio and television were broadcasted live. >> who was the father of our country? >> these were live events. is someone going to answer the $64 question tonight? >> washington? >> right. give that lady those 50 crisp dollar bills. >> and those were immensely popular. >> she put everything she had on a horse. >> lady godiva. >> lady godiva is correct, and you get $64. >> and then we had that leap from radio to television where what used to be the $64 question goes on to tv as the $64,000 question. >> yes, the $64,000 question. >> they were so popular to the point that almost one quarter of nbc's broadcasting slate were game shows. >> look what you can win now, a new car. >> you're watching what is more or less a rags-to-riches story. there's that vicarious thrill that seems to come from watching someone else receive a life-changing amount of money instantaneously. >> he just won a million dollars. >> i think there's also a desire to become a player. >> ready, eugene? one, two, three, let's go. >> my name is eugene byon, and i've been a huge fan of hq for the last, goodness, four or five years. there's this shirt here, originally offered on the hq store, limited edition. there's this shirt here, which i got for winning the co-hosting contest and co-hosting a game of hq. >> cumero, numero uno. >> but there's also, ha-ha, oh, yes, this option. this is the very outfit that i wore on "who wants to be a millionaire's" second chance week where i won $20,000. and so i thought maybe that might be a good option for today. >> so i've played about 2,000 games. after i played the first game, i knew that every time hq had a game, i would do everything in my power to play that game. >> is this your first taste of the hq trivia pot pie? >> one of the things that really sets hq trivia apart from your traditional tv game show is the interactive nature of it. >> did you all have a nice thanksgiving? >> scott rogowsky is constantly interacting with folks. there is that sense the host is aware that you're there. >> it's friday night. the feeling is right. there's a party going down on the west side. >> and scott rogowsky was incredibly charismatic. it wasn't like, oh, i'm going to go play hq trivia. it was also like, oh, i got to watch scott. >> we've gathered a bunch of leftover questions, threw them together in the microwave for you. jk, we got a fresh batch, piping hot, ready to serve. >> every weird synapse in my brain that would fire off. >> freddie mercury is in retrograde. >> whether it was a simpsons reference or a phish lyric, the band phish, you know, things that i love, seinfeld, baseball, all these things i just kind of like put out there. >> say what up. give me some of those. >> a lot of it was just improvised. and when you're rolling, you're rolling. >> i'm your host with the crab toast, scott rogowsky, aka the woke woolery. >> walt quizney. >> the semitic sajak. >> the quizzard of oz. >> the great and powerful shnaz. >> aka the trap trebek. aka regis trillbin. >> quiz marquis. >> rupert pumpkin. >> edward quizzerhands. >> the quiz daddy. >> quiz daddy. >> quiz daddy. >> quiz daddy. >> that's what you thought of, right? you know, you're like, oh, 9 p.m., time to spend time with quiz daddy. >> shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em. >> it became pretty obvious to me fairly quickly that there was some professional jealousy seeping into this dynamic between rus and myself. i honestly think rus had some scars from the vine days. i mean, he created a platform that allowed all these viners to become megastars. and rus was still fairly anonymous behind the scenes. and here he was seeing another guy get famous off another one of his products. and it wasn't sitting too well with him. >> i remember him very clearly telling me, this is not the scott rogowsky show. you're just a host. in fact, when this show gets bigger, i want to get a celebrity host. like jim parsons, you know, maybe jamie foxx. and this was rus telling me, like, yeah, you're replaceable. we're going to replace you. but i was having fun with the show. >> blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. you want to get down to the nitty gritty and get the show on the road? it's a live trivia game that happens twice a day. >> a trivia game show you play on your phone where you answer questions to win cash. >> it's hosted by the very charming scott rogowsky. >> sit back, relax, and let yourself go. don't sweat what you heard. act like you know. it's a tribe called quiz. may the best brain win. >> scott is the icon of hq. >> yeppity. >> and he's become a magnet for selfies. >> who's your favorite host? >> scott, definitely. >> he's cool. he's cool. it's fun to watch. >> all my little rogowsky urban achievers. >> scott! scott! >> oh, my god! >> i am a god! what's the big deal? what's the big deal? what's the big deal? ♪marching band music♪ ♪marching band music♪ i'll get a cart. get two! scotts daylawn saving is the biggest deal of the year. stock up early and save up to $20 dollars on the best scotts products. if your business kept on employees through the pandemic, getrefunds.com can see if it may qualify for a payroll tax refund of up to $26,000 per employee, even if it received ppp, and all it takes is eight minutes to get started. then we'll work with you to fill out your forms and submit the application; that easy. and if your business doesn't get paid, we don't get paid. getrefunds.com has helped businesses like yours claim over $2 billion but it's only available for a limited time. go to getrefunds.com, powered by innovation refunds. 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(vo) doing gets it done. wells fargo, the bank of doing. - life is uncertain. everyday pressures can feel overwhelming it's okay to feel stressed, anxious, worried, or frustrated. it's normal. with calhope's free and secure mental health resources, it's easy to get the help you and your loved ones need when you need it the most. call our warm line at (833) 317-4673 or live chat at calhope.org today. >> so, i write about tech and culture, and i write a lot about kind of the human side of technology or these kind of culture stories that are adjacent to the more hard tech stories, i guess you could say. >> the trivia game show you play on your phone. >> i came across hq trivia kind of like everyone else on the internet. >> you won! >> i won! >> people in the newsroom were, like, meeting at 3 o'clock to all play. >> shabbat shalom, hq-ties. i'm your hoost with a moose, scoot rogoost. >> the host, scott rogowsky, i had noticed that nobody had done a profile of him. about this person that, you know, thousands of people were tuning into every day and was becoming this beloved cult figure online. >> warning. tonight's quiz has two horns. are you ready for a quarter of an hour of mirth, trivia, and mayhem? >> this was mid-november 2017. gq wanted to do a shoot. interview magazine. newspapers. and i had been dutifully forwarding all these requests to rus, and everything disappeared. >> i started hitting up scott on social media. i noticed that we had some mutual friends on facebook. >> there was a couple of friends saying, hey, my friend taylor, writes for the daily beast, would like to interview you. i said, you know what? screw it. i'm going to do this for a friend. >> i'm not going to say it was a puff piece, but it was a puff piece. i did, you know, try and see if there was any kind of controversy around him. there was nothing. >> i did the interview with taylor. ten minutes on the phone, thought nothing of it. >> the original headline said something about his eyelashes. let me go grab the computer. hold on. it's just right in here. the next huge app star is a man with great eyelashes who lives with his parents. meet scott, the most beloved host of hq, the live trivia show that hundreds of thousands of people tune into every day. fans call him quiz daddy. and on the few days when he doesn't host hq trivia, people beg for his return. everyone needs 15 minutes of scott in their lives, said one fan recently. if you don't like scott from hq, we can't be friends, said another. and then i continued on in, like, the nicest piece i've probably ever written about anyone. i file my draft, and at 6 p.m. an e-mail comes in from rus. he's like, this is an unauthorized profile. you can't write this story. and i'm like, i'm a journalist, and we don't need your approval to write stories. so, sorry, just let me know if you want to comment. and feel free to call me. i get on the phone, and rus starts yelling, and he's [ bleep ] and i immediately start transcribing everything because i'm like, this is crazy. and i also want to make sure that i write down any quotes. so i'm in my notes app. it is so hostile. i mean, yelling at me, saying he was going to fire scott if i ran this profile. and i was so taken aback and confused. like, this is bizarre. like, does he understand how positive this story is? and i essentially start to read him kind of quotes that scott gave me. >> taylor had asked me what i ate for lunch before the shows. i said, i like to go to sweetgreen. this was the particular part of the interview that rus really took exception to. >> rus is like, he cannot mention sweetgreen. we don't have a sponsored relationship with sweetgreen. i'm like, dude, what are you talking about? and he's like, basically the call is done. so i rewrite the story around all of this stuff that happened. that night, i was having a panic attack. i could not sleep. i just remember feeling like, oh, my god, being a journalist is too stressful, and i [ bleep ] this up. and the next morning, i get into work, and ben collins, my editor, is like, we need to formally let the company know that we are including all of this. all right, let's go. let's get rus on the phone. >> so i'm preparing to do the 3 o'clock. i'm in the studio. i just put my suit and tie on. ten minutes before it starts to go live. >> rus gets scott. >> knock on the studio door. rus says, can you step out? we enter a small conference room. rus has his phone on speaker. i've got the daily beast on the line. they're telling me that i threatened to fire you. why don't you tell them that that's not true? it was taylor and her editor. hi, scott here. yeah, i don't know where you're getting that from. that's totally crazy. rus never threatened to fire me. never heard that. >> i think that scott realized that rus was lying. >> and i look at rus, who's looking at me going. like not true. >> it was so clear that rus was lying. >> my heart just sunk in that moment. it was such a shock. and like you, you really said this? you were like, you're going to fire me? i looked at rus. i was like, look, man, i got to host your show. so, you know, you deal with this. and i left the conference room and went back and hosted hq. >> i hope your socks are securely fastened because we're about to knock him off another game of hq. >> 20 minutes later, when the show ended, i step outside. the story had been published. >> it blew up. >> and [ bleep ] hit the fan. oh! i am actually shocked i don't need a haircut. don't trim daily damage. stop it with dove. i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. uhhhh... here, i'll take that. 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( ♪ ) the future is here. we've been creating it for more than 100 years, putting the most advanced technology into people's hands. generation after generation. tool after tool. again and again. bringing you the broadest and most reliable network of service dealers. always moving forward. we lead. others follow. good news! a new clinical study showed that centrum silver supports cognitive health in older adults. it's one more step towards taking charge of your health. so every day, you can say... ♪ youuu did it! ♪ with centrum silver. >> the headline that we ran was something like hq trivia founder: "if you run this article, i'll fire the host," which ben wrote. genius headline. i was at my desk on twitter, glued for like hours, like refreshing. and other journalists were like, holy [ bleep ] >> this became a whole scandal of its own. all this media coverage laughing about how sensitive this founder was. #freescott was trending. i mean, people thought that i was being held captive, that i couldn't eat at certain places without permission. it kind of, you know, the internet went wild with it. >> when the sweetgreen article dropped, rus was on the phone, like in the middle of the office, kind of like a pr, like crisis control situation. >> rus called me that night. he said, this is what we're going to do. >> after the story came out, rus took scott on like a date to sweetgreen to like ease things over. and then i see that rus has actually tweeted something like, who's an out-of-touch startup founder? me. like, basically, sorry about all that. and i did think that was like masterful pr response. it de-escalated tensions, but it also made it like 10 times more viral. >> i was on vacation, and i called scott up, and i said, did rus do this on purpose? because i was thinking, you know, there's no such thing as bad press. this is going to be great for us. >> that's when the hockey stick accelerated. >> hq trivia was everywhere. >> it is that time once again. the quizzing hour is upon us. >> people played it on the subway, at home, at work, in the bar. >> three winners, baby! >> hq winners! >> i remember going to an astros game. i whipped out my phone and started playing. >> greeting you on this late autumn day. >> it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. >> you could see how many people were watching, which made it cool, too, because as the company grew, we would get more excited about the viewership. >> the media requests started coming in. >> it's the fomo element, the fear of missing out that's so prevalent in society now. >> we were doing talk shows. i was doing "good morning america," "the today show," colbert. >> are we in the matrix right now? >> all of this is science fiction. >> no, but, you know, i liken it to the wright brothers building the first airplane. >> what? >> yeah. >> thank you. >> watch your attitude, kids. now come clean, are you one of the extortion mob? >> it's exciting when people are excited about game shows. >> do you mind kissing any of these people? >> oh, i wouldn't mind for a chance. >> there's nothing else like it. >> do you wish to select a category? >> it's not the same thing as live sports. it's not the same thing as watching some kind of stunt performance. it's a unique kind of pleasure. >> you've won $100 a week for an entire year. >> the game shows that we remember are the ones that run for a long time. >> the host of "jeopardy!," alex trebek. "jeopardy!," "wheel of fortune," "who wants to be a millionaire." there are plenty of other game shows -- >> hello, and welcome to starbase. >> that most people barely remember. >> i'm putting $5,000 of my money on the line. >> they seem to be chasing something that could become the next millionaire. >> final answer? >> yes. >> they're looking to find the unique twists in that formula and capture people's imagination. >> shaggy and scooby-doo. >> wow. >> and hq was able to scratch that itch in a unique way that it hadn't happened before. >> you won! you won! >> hq was both just a game and also an attempt to, you know, revolutionize television. >> do i have anything in my teeth? i'm drew patterson, and i was an investor and advisor and consultant to hq trivia. colin and rus had different and complementary kinds of skill sets. they met at jet center. >> my next guest, drew patterson. >> i was the founder and the ceo. >> and we had a great time together. lots of late nights, beers afterwards. those kinds of experiences created lots of camaraderie and deep relationships and friendships. colin is an introvert. you know, i suppose maybe i am as well. and so we connected around that. rus and i had a professional relationship, but we weren't friends in the way that colin and i are friends. colin was a world-class engineer. you look at what hq had to accomplish, colin was one of the few people in the world able to do that. >> we definitely like to connect you closer with the people that you know in the game. >> and, i mean, rus is an incredibly talented designer. >> with hq trivia, when colin and rus started as just co-founders, eventually colin fell into the role of the chief technology officer and effectively rus started to be the coo, the chief operating officer. but the problem was that they were both kind of competing to be the ceo, the face of the company, the one who controlled the money. >> colin had very clear ideas about what he wanted to create in the world. and his ambition was to reshape culture, right? like to build the next version of television. that's a gargantuan undertaking. and so i think he felt the pressure to try to live up to that. he was an awesome collaborator. he was also really challenging. i mean, it was not a picnic to work with colin. he had strong ideas. he was not shy about sharing his ideas. he drove the people who worked for him incredibly hard. and, you know, he didn't suffer fools. he was a total pain in the [ bleep ] >> are you ready? >> yeah. >> wherever you left off and if feel comfortable talking. >> why don't we grab lunch and we can do this after lunch? >> perfect. what's the big deal? what's the big deal? ♪marching band music♪ ♪marching band music♪ i'll get a cart. get two! scotts daylawn saving is the biggest deal of the year. stock up early and save up to $20 dollars on the best scotts products. 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but it was clear that if they wanted to build and realize their dream, they needed more money. >> looking to raise more money? >> if it's right, sure. >> as a startup, you need capital to grow the company. you need engineers. in the case of hq, you need prize money. >> today's jackpot, $1,000. >> $5,000. >> $18,000. >> $50,000. >> $100,000. you can actually buy love and happiness for that kind of dough. >> so clearly they were fundraising. but it was clear that, like, something was stalling that. and this report comes out, which answered the question of, like, why haven't they raised more money yet? >> what i wanted to do was break news about who was investing in this really buzzy startup called hq trivia. and i kept getting a version of the same answer back, which was, super interested, but we have our reservations. and what i learned was that rus and colin had a reputation from their time at vine and twitter that was catching up to them. >> there were rumors of bad management by colin at twitter, but nobody was really sure if it had strayed into something more serious until this article came out. >> i spoke to over a dozen former colleagues and employees, and the experiences they had were not positive. colin would show up late to work, hungover, disheveled. he was kind of verbally aggressive towards people. >> and what kurt wrote is that he was fired for being a bad manager. but in addition to that, there were female employees at twitter that spoke out that colin made them uncomfortable. kurt describes creepy behavior towards women. >> he would maybe make a joke, or he would talk about something that happened over the weekend in a way that, especially to his female colleagues, it made them feel weird. >> i thought the recode article, it played into a cultural moment, right? and it was easy to read the story in a certain way. you know, it was the height of me too. >> the me too movement growing this morning, millions of women sharing their own stories online. >> all these bad things were happening in tech. there was sexism. there was not a meritocracy like they promised. there were new types of harassment. there was a moment where it was just like article upon article upon article. >> suddenly there was a reckoning around bad behavior by men, sexual politics in the workplace that, you know, really had not been reckoned with. and a long overdue reckoning. unfortunately, i think colin got caught up in that. >> colin kroll, his behavior was described as creepy at times, also egregious, according to recode, though it doesn't appear formal complaints were actually filed against him. >> that, as far as i know, was not why he was fired. he was fired because he wasn't doing a good job managing the staff. but colin's behavior and his history mattered because it was now directly impacting his current business. >> colin pulled me into the phone room and asked if he could chat with me. and he said, this article talks about me having a unprofessional relationship with somebody. and i wanted to share my side of the story with you. and i want you to feel comfortable here. >> in silicon valley, you have a lot of young people, young white men managing big teams that are growing really quickly. there's a lot of ego. you have move fast and break things mentality. you work long hours, you code, you don't take off. you can't show any sign of weakness. it all goes into this myth of the silicon valley founder. right? think of the steve jobs model, you know, to be a true creative genius, yeah, you're going to hurt some feelings. your underlings are going to fear you. but that's good. that's what it takes. and as we know now, that's not what it takes. in fact, it actually usually hinders innovation because people don't feel comfortable. you lose talent and you end up building a very non-inclusive workspace. >> when i got there, like it was definitely kind of a boys club. i would come in in the morning and there might be like, you know, beer cans that they had left behind from the night before that i was like, i guess i'm cleaning this up. or like rachel, like we need more coffee. like, can you make some? you know, i'm like, can't you? i never really spoke up, probably because i felt insecure. i was young, you know, i was very young and i think inherently, like as women, we are afraid to speak up, especially young women. rus and colin had built a hit and this report comes out. it just was like, oh, gosh, is this it? you know, like, is this -- who wants to invest in the company now? >> there was a lot of speculation around why this article came out when it did. the instance they are to be talking about were years prior when he was at twitter. why is this coming out now, right when the fundraisers are happening, right when they're figuring out who's going to run the company? >> as co-founders, you can run things pretty loosely in the beginning. but once other investors start coming on board, you have to sort of formalize things. and, well, if there are allegations of creepy behavior on one of these guys, it's probably best that the other founder leads the company now. and colin believed that, you know, rus was involved in the story getting out there. . like what makes your lawn thrive, paint that adds color in one coat and a dishwasher that handles all the dirty work. you got this. and we got you. oh! it's daylight saving time. what's the big deal? gasp! what's the big deal? what's the big deal? what's the big deal? 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rus' whole thing was, i want to give away a million dollars. >> we'd love to give away a million dollars. >> we'd love to give away a million dollars. >> can we give away a million dollars one day? i think so. >> i think rus is, in the best sense of the word, a showman. >> i'm rus yusupov, the ceo and co-founder of hq trivia. >> interested in creating spectacle. >> with viewers in more than 80 countries. >> the bigger the spectacle, the better. >> i'm back here at the nfl tailgate joined by the man at the center of the craziest obsession sweeping our nation right now. >> we had a super bowl commercial. >> people dressed as me for halloween. >> we're making things extra awesome tonight on hq. >> we were nominated for an emmy award. >> 3,000 high schoolers screaming for me. >> it's been soaring in popularity. sometimes more than a million people play it at the same time. >> with all one million plus of you. >> jimmy kimmel, in fact, loved it so much he finagled his way into guest hosting. >> i'm here because scott doesn't love you anymore. and to be honest, i don't know that he ever really did. so let's try to forget about him right now. >> i think the celebrities for me. >> awkwafina. >> oh, yeah. >> made me think, wow, this is big. >> these is expensive, these is red bottoms, these is bloody shoes. >> success begets success. >> i don't want to do math. >> 100,000. >> as the size of the audience grows -- >> hug me. >> oh, there he is. >> a.k.a. your boy ice cube. >> that makes it easier to bring in higher profile celebrities. >> hq is live. >> hq is always live. >> i remember when the rock was on there. >> the rock hosting. >> maybe i can give you some pointers. how about that? >> yeah. okay, i would love some pointers. yeah. >> rus knows how to craft a narrative that breaks through the media, that gets people excited, that gives them something to talk about. >> the rock tweeted, you should catch him on hq -- >> here's to hq trivia. we're going to have a blast tomorrow. $300,000. >> that ended up being 2 million people plus. >> the morale in the office was really, really high. >> can we get some mustard for danny devito, for crying out loud? >> danny devito, he was asking the engineers all these questions about how hq worked. >> we were hiring engineers, writers, and they had moved into a new office. it just felt like we were rapidly expanding. >> that's a wrap, scott. this is live, scott. go with it. >> rus was building international markets, launching a german hq. >> [ speaking in foreign language ] >> an australia hq -- >> so just think of me as your little australian dumbledore. >> a uk hq. >> i'm sharon carpenter, your quality quizzer, and this is hq trivia. >> rus came to me, he said, sharon, i see you in cosmopolitan. i see you on the cover of this magazine, this newspaper. and i'm thinking, okay, rus, like, calm down a little bit. i don't know, is it really going to be like that? but you know what? he was absolutely right. i'd been involved with a lot of different shows, big networks, but i had never seen this level of fandom. >> [ bleep ] hq-ties! we're back at it again! >> in my wildest dreams, i never thought for a second that hq would become this huge. to see the game grow in a matter of months to 2.3 million live players. >> what a crazy game, guys! >> it was just mind-blowing. >> we started with 2.3 million, a record, and we're going to come back and try to do it again tomorrow. yeah, that's right, tomorrow! >> it turned out it was, like, too good for us because what colin had explained as the engineering mind behind the whole process, is you want it to slowly build because the app is not ready to work with too many people on it. >> colin had a sense of, like, we're not going in the right direction. this party isn't going to end well. it can't just be more bigger prizes and a bigger and bigger spectacle. the company needs to be more than just those things, and i think he was frustrated that rus wasn't attuned to that. and tha'. how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. we got the house! you did! pods handles the driving. pack at your pace. store your things until you're ready. then we deliver to your new home - across town or across the country. pods, your personal moving and storage team. introducing the new sleep number climate360 smart bed. the only smart bed in the world that actively cools, warms and effortlessly responds to both of you. our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. proven quality sleep. only from sleep number. engagement rings now up to 40% off. 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(we did it) start today at godaddy.com okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition. together we support immune function. supply fuel for immune cells and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein. >> do it one more time. do it one more time. >> a million of you live in the game. >> we had a milestone of getting a million players in a game. and then we had a milestone of getting 2 million players in a game. >> 2 million plus of you. >> so to get to 3 million was the next milestone. rus bought a giant champagne bottle. >> it was probably like at least half my body. >> and he had a sign that said, you know, break in case of 3 million. and we just expected we'd get there the next week. and this is the hubris. this is the great symbol of the greek tragedy that is hq, is this, you know, magnum bottle of champagne. >> we have over 1.5 million of you now live. >> 1.9 million players still watching. >> 2.3 million, a record. >> we know that you can have too much of a good thing. >> hq trivia. >> do you think you're going to put "jeopardy!" out of business? >> and tonight, the trivia sensation, hq, returns to work. >> i mean, if you went to a michelin star restaurant every night, had a five course meal by the best chef in the world. >> it's monday night. >> it is tuesday. >> it is wednesday. >> thanksgiving is thursday. >> friday night. >> saturday. >> happy sunday. >> eventually, you get sick of it. >> what day is it? >> monday. it's monday. >> i would not say that a majority of hq players are game show fans. so because of that, boredom can quickly set in. i started seeing those signs myself from interacting with other hq-ties on social media. people starting to express that they're getting bored of the game. >> there's a few other apps that had very similar premise. >> the q prides itself on its ability to go live anywhere. >> and we would watch and be like, this is not as good as hq, you know. >> keep watching. >> question number one. >> you had hq imitators coming out of india and thailand. the question on everyone's mind was, when will facebook copy this? and they did. >> welcome to confetti. i'm going to ask you 13 questions. they get harder as we go. >> let's get ready to confetti. >> i mean, every company and every ceo faces the same thing. the hardest thing is coming up with a good idea. the next hardest thing is protecting it. a lot of companies continually innovate, right? the next iphone will be better than this one. that's a challenge that every company faces from a consumer who constantly asks one question, and that is, what have you done for me lately? >> say cheese. >> hello, hqties. happy monday. >> hq was, you know, really hitting the peak. that's when the numbers started declining, and that's when the cracks started showing. >> april, you know, it's starting to go down. may, really starting to go down. >> the penultimate question, elmo. you know what that means? >> no. >> july to august, seeing us start to drop below a million. >> i don't know. we did lose about half of you there. >> yeah, looking at the top right and seeing 999, i'm like, hmm, okay. >> 600,000. >> 400,000. >> 300,000 plus. >> how do you regain that peak moment, and do you need to regain that moment? what we're proud of is that we're able to maintain this core community and core player base that engages by the hundreds of thousands every day. >> a million people is a sexy number. that's what enabled hq to get those $15 million in brand deals and ads sold. you don't get those deals if numbers are going down. >> yeah, i know. everyone's kind of like on vacation. you're here. you're doing it. we're doing it. we're doing it up. we're doing it upright. >> it was frustrating and also just basically trying to figure out where is it going wrong. >> this is really not what i was expecting. >> yeah, i mean, so i think the obvious things that rus could have tried. >> things that would have been nice if it had come out earlier. >> what if they did, i don't know, just pop culture trivia. >> new gameplay elements. >> geography. >> points that roll over, that accumulate on a leaderboard or a profile. >> make it so you could still answer questions after you got out of the game. >> there's no shortage of ideas. >> there were brilliant people working at hq, but they couldn't get their work done. they could not execute because rus was not allowing them to. every time someone had an idea or a thing, let's try this. no. >> rus was afraid of tampering with the formula. >> you all know, of course, the dab. the dance move featuring a raised arm. rappers, football players, even hillary clinton dab. >> now we're talking. >> things were really breaking down behind the scenes and a lot of it stemmed from this divide between rus and colin in terms of what kind of company this was. >> rus and colin did have different visions for the company. rus was all about blowing up hq trivia into this massive thing, right? like, let's get bigger prizes. let's get bigger celebrities to host. and that's the future of hq. we're going to build this into a massive show. >> if we could get millions of people to engage for 15 minutes, seven days a week, that's incredibly powerful. >> my understanding from colin was we need to build a platform with a number of different game shows going. we're not going to put all of our eggs in one basket. and that was a pretty dramatic difference of opinion at that stage of the company because you only have so much money. you can choose to try and support the main game or you can choose to try and build new games, but you can't really do both. >> nothing was getting done. i mean, hq is this patient on the operating table bleeding out and there's two doctors standing over the body arguing each other and the patient's dying. we were in a total stasis and at the same time hemorrhaging followers. >> it's a small office, so people are talking to each other. they're worried, right, like, is this going to exist? am i going to have a job? >> i was living, breathing and sleeping hq, literally to the point where i was not sleeping because of hq. i mean, someone had to raise the alarm here. and that ended up being me. that's when i called the board members and the main investors. >> the board, which is small, there's only four people, including both co-founders, starts talking. hey, should colin be the ceo instead of rus? >> colin as ceo. >> and for rus, it was anyone but colin. >> the president took time today to meet with the rap star and trump fan, kanye west. it was a rather bizarre scene. >> i couldn't even watch it. i had to turn the television off. >> around that time, the end of the summer, rus calls me into another boardroom one day and tells me he has a big idea. and at this point, i was like, i need to start recording this guy so i can pin him on what he said, because he's so slippery. >> the company needs a hail mary. some thing that will make everybody tune back in to see what we're doing. and you know, if i'm not the best ceo and colin's not the best ceo, who would that be? so my idea was like bringing in someone externally, or scott rogowsky. >> i mean, it was like the most out-of-left-field thing i'd ever heard. his big pitch was, no, no, this is going to be great, because you're the host and the ceo, and we can hire a camera crew to follow you around, make it a reality show. >> could have camera crews here, right? you're getting dressed in the morning, putting on your suit and tie. i'm going to a board meeting. >> you know, talking to the audience and saying, like, what tie should i wear to the investor meeting today? should it be the blue one or the black one? and you can get interactive feedback. >> it's like a comedian turned into a startup ceo. >> slash "truman show." >> "truman show". it's a [ bleep ] tv show. we can make it huge, make it really big. and the company would be on the world stage again. >> you know, i'm just like, this is -- >> it's a kooky idea. >> it sounds kooky. >> a wild, kooky game show, but i think it's exactly what the company needs at this time. >> uh-huh. >> it just seemed comical, but he was just desperate to figure something out to get someone else in there other than colin. >> i don't think colin would be the best ceo for the company. >> yeah. >> he's going to tank hq trivia just to preserve the engineers so they can make more apps and make more software. >> right. >> and i left there thinking, okay, like, we're in trouble. yeah, but then, you know, i took that week to really think about the ceo thing. i bought a book, ceo for dummies kind of thing. i did take business school classes at hopkins. i said, i think people in the office would respect me and, you know, they already did. so i would rally everybody together and say, guys, let's save this and let's turn this around. >> initially, it seems crazy. you're not really thinking about the host being the ceo. >> so i wrapped my head around and i said, okay, you know what, shoot, like, you know, if not me, who? if not now, when? i booked a flight to san francisco. i had a powerpoint to put together. i met with the investors and i said, here's my pitch. you know, here's why rus needs to go. here's why i don't think colin is the right fit as well. rus came to me with this idea. i thought it was crazy at first, but now it might just be our last hope here. jeremy thoughtfully considered it and he said, thank you for coming out here. thank you for meeting with me. rus wanted me in. i kind of left thinking, okay, this might happen. this might happen. and then about a week later, they had the vote. and they named colin ceo. and to me, it was like, well, you know, again, i tried. you know, colin, we'll see what he can do. look, i mean, he's a co-founder. anything is better than rus. right? that's why at t-mobile for business... you'll save more than $1,000 versus verizon. and with price lock guarantee, we'll never raise your rate plan. so you can keep your focus on toe-turns and making sure the sauce is extra spicy. at t-mobile, there are no small businesses. ♪ that run with the champ was magical. i mean the tender chicken, the peppercorn ranch... i love my rings but i'll cherish that lunch... forever. the subway series. the greatest menu of all time. only at vanguard, you're more than just an investor—you're an owner. we got this, babe. that means that your dreams are ours too. and our financial planning tools can help you reach them. that's the value of ownership. lowe's knows you never come in for just one thing. so we've got to know a lot of things about a lot of things. like what makes your lawn thrive, paint that adds color in one coat and a dishwasher that handles all the dirty work. you got this. and we got you. >> colin now in this capacity as ceo had the ability to excommunicate rus. if i became ceo, that would be my first order of business. give rus that bottle of champagne. and say, here you go, man. now, please see yourself out and never come back. unfortunately, it's not what colin did when he became ceo. and it caused all sorts of other problems. >> we've had a hardware restart. may have had an instrumentation problem. >> colin had a lot of responsibilities on his plate. this company had really started to stagnate. now it was really transitioning into the second act. he needed to come up with what was the hq trivia going to be next? not just what it already was. >> you know, we're on our game. we're creating the future. >> colin opened it up to every single employee to come up with like what they thought would be an exciting new show. and we literally pitched it to them. >> let's dive right in and meet today's bachelor. >> there was an idea for there to be a dating show, a comedy show. >> record high pollen count. who the [ bleep ] counts pollen? >> where you can boo someone that's not doing a good job. >> things started to turn around when colin became ceo. he basically gave everybody their autonomy. let them design and build. >> his platform was to listen to people here and take feedback and work together to make something happen. >> colin had put so much time and effort into creating hq words. >> it's time for hq words! >> the next game that was going to be launched soon. >> we had balloons in the office. hq words, ready to go with our new show. >> you could tell that colin was under a lot of stress. he felt the responsibility of keeping everyone employed and making the investors happy at the same time. >> we sort of set ourselves up now to launch show after show. and that's, that's really my whole strategy. >> he was working day and night. really grueling hours. partly driven by the creative desire to accomplish something. but it was all weighing on him. >> let's now talk fortnite, shall we? >> this is one of those viral games that is literally sucking productivity out of schools, out of workplaces. you can forget trying to have a conversation at home. >> right before christmas 2018, hq had their holiday party. >> i was hosting it. i went and got little lights on the table, the decor for the makeshift phone booth. i was kind of like mingling with everyone, just making my rounds the whole night. making sure that everyone was having a good time. >> i am frosty the host man, bringing you dough man, the elf of wealth. >> it was a really, really, really nice party. >> at the christmas party, colin was looking worn out. he was taking a break from drinking. he felt he was drinking too much. it's probably hard to watch all your co-workers get obliterated. he kind of was in a bit of a rush to get out of there. he didn't want to be tempted. >> colin comes up to me and says, hey v, i didn't want to leave without thanking you. it seems like everyone's having a good time. and i just didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. >> good morning. periods of rain today. low clouds, 39 with northeast winds at 15. >> the weekend after the party, i got a text with an article that had the headline that said that the co-founder of hq had passed away. >> the co-founder of one of the world's most popular trivia games has died. an official tells cnn that hq trivia ceo colin kroll was found dead this morning in new york. >> colin kroll, ceo of hq, dead at 34. it's like, what? is this a joke? >> you might not know his name, but you probably know his work. he co-founded the viral game hq trivia and the video app vine. >> officers went to colin kroll's apartment early sunday after his girlfriend requested a wellness check. >> police say kroll was found unconscious and unresponsive in his bedroom. >> and then like other texts started flooding in. i was like, oh, my god. it was just like, it was totally surreal. it was totally, totally surreal. >> i found out about colin's death on twitter and just being dumbfounded. i remember reaching out to other colleagues and friends and trying to learn what had happened. >> i always thought of him as a surprisingly approachable, normal person. just a single guy in new york looking to hang out with friends who happens to be responsible for this company. and just, you know, it makes you realize he was carrying a huge secret around in plain sight. >> new york police found him unconscious in his bed, and they suspect a drug overdose as the cause of death. >> i never in my wildest imagination could have ever guessed that colin was doing heroin. colin died of a heroin overdose because there was fentanyl in it. and that was like the point when i even learned that he was doing heroin. >> some people wanted to just cancel the show. we're not doing a show tonight. we were debating like, you know, what do we do here and how do we approach this? and i was like, guys, we have to acknowledge this. it would be crazy not to say something. >> it is with a heavy heart that i must share some tragic news that has befallen the hq family. >> so i had the idea to say, like, let's go live at 9:00, and i will just, you know, eulogize colin. >> colin, or c.k. as we called him, was a true visionary who changed the game twice. first with vine, and then with this very app. >> you always wonder, like, what was he going to make next? >> thank you, c.k. good night, everybody. >> i have no idea how mobile and media might have changed if he'd still been around another decade or two. >> some people come into our lives and leave too soon, leaving behind an afterimage, a fading memory. colin is not one of those people. we were married in many ways, and i lost a partner. obviously, colin struggled with his issues as we all do. maybe for colin it was too much too soon. i can't say we always agreed or that we were always happy with each other, but it was during these challenging times that colin's kind soul and big heart were truly shining. i hope he left each and every one of you with that sense of feeling special, as he did with me. thank you. what's the big deal? 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morale was at an all-time low and dominoes were falling, people were leaving. i mean they laid off a few of us at once, they were very solemn and we are just like hey, we want you to want to let you know today is your last day at hq and they gave me a tote bag to put my stuff in with the hq logo on it. i thought it was funny. a funny little piece on top of it. >> the ship was truly sinking here. that's why when i had an opportunity to go elsewhere, i took it. >> this is actually dan's jacket. >> it was a streaming sports apt, i'm a huge baseball fan. >> i'm thinking, i can still do the sunday night hq and the changeup monday through friday. russ did not want to do that. i ended up saying farewell, i guess i'll no longer be hosting at hq and that was that. when i you know finally announced on twitter i said i'm no longer at hq and i've got this new show i'm really excited about it. all the tributes started coming in and the rock tweeted at me, that was trending on twitter for a weekend, the fact that i left hq. people were like where's the farewell show, it's like how do you not see how bad this looks? so scott leaves in april 2019, valentine's day, 2020, is where they officially pulled the plug on hq. >> it's friday, happy valentine's day, everyone. >> we heard that hq was being canceled, that that was it. hq is no more. so, it was kind of a sad moment, like this is it. publicly the ending was really abrupt. for a lot of people, it was just a notification sent to their phone, we are done. >> there are still plans to produce this show the next day. so, what do the hosts do? they got drunk. >> this is the last game ever, and this five dollar prize is coming out of my own pocket. we ran out of money. we just kept giving it away. >> $6 million in prizes. >> that's insane. >> and then, the tweet went out, hq is shutting down. ran out of money. >> hq shut down for what we thought was going to be for good. hq ended up coming back. >> we've all been hard at work building the brand-new just for you chapter 2. >> russ managed to find investors that believes that hq still had something special. even if it wouldn't have 2.3 million players again. >> we are going to make a tiktok. >> who got it? >> it's up folded in february 2020 and was mysteriously resurrected six weeks later, as a shell of its former self. >> i'm so excited. >> hq trivia is back, y'all, yes! >> i'm technically an inventor, i'm on the design patent for this app that i helped build, i watched it rise to being the most popular thing in pop culture in one moment in time. i remember seeing joe biden before he was president, tell scott that scott was more popular than him. and i watched it all slowly go away. >> that isn't a new story but it's an important story. the-the excitement of founders becoming rock stars and then failure, like big failure, quick failure. i don't think a lot of us will know this pressure, right? when they put millions of dollars into you, you've got to manage to live up to that insane valuation that everyone believed you had, not to take it far, this is a quiz app but i think hq is a microcosm for a much larger landscape of startups and what happened over the last decade. >> spending a lot of time in my office, my vintage clothing shop , i'm hosting a podcast, i'm hosting live streams of the show i created called wildcards. i have guests join me athletes. >> this is going out to christian, fresh from the pack, how cool is that? >> i get people coming in here, oh my gosh, it's the hq guy and i'm like yeah, that's me. it better be me, i'm wearing his underwear. classic line. >> the late great alex trebek had his estate so last week and i went, the whole situation is somewhat absurd, you know, you are doing this thing, it becomes super popular, you are recognized everywhere, you are in magazines, and all that and it doesn't last forever, and now you look back on it, oh, that will actually happe n. the subprime mortgage crisis has left millions of

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