HQ Trivia co-founder dies of apparent overdose

Executive who also helped launched Vine video app was 34

NEW YORK— Colin Kroll, cofounder and chief executive of the popular HQ Trivia app, was found dead apparently of a drug overdose in his lower Manhattan apartment early Sunday, police said.

Police officers found his body face down on his bed after a concerned woman called 911 and asked police to check up on him in his SoHo apartment, on Spring St. The woman’s relationship to Kroll was unclear, but police said she grew worried about his well-being. Police said they found what appeared to be cocaine and heroin in the apartment. Kroll was 34. A spokesperson for HQ Trivia said the company became aware of Kroll’s death Sunday.

“We learned today of the passing of our friend and founder, Colin Kroll, and it’s with deep sadness that we say goodbye,” she said in an email. “Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”

The entrepreneur’s father, Alan Kroll, said in a phone interview: “He had so much talent and had accomplished so much at such a young age. It truly is a waste. At 34, imagine the things he’d done and the skills he had. It would have been really fun to watch him at 50.”

Alan Kroll said that his son had recently stopped drinking and did not have a drug problem, although he was aware that his son took drugs recreationally. “He worked too many hours and too hard,” he said. “I think New York City got to him a little bit.”

Before creating HQ Trivia, which livestreams 15-minute trivia shows typically twice a day to tens of thousands of mobile users, Kroll co-founded the six-second video app Vine, which was sold to Twitter in 2012 and closed down last year.