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On a cold February morning in a quiet corner of QG Trivia headquarters in New York, one of the company's young executives spoke softly to one of the first employees. The official wanted the employee to sign a draft letter to the board of directors requesting that the founder, Rus Yusupov, be removed from his position as CEO – for the second time – and assign a different role to the company .
She nodded. She was in.
Another employee who complained of Yusupov's leadership had helped recruit other employees to sign the letter. In total, about half of the approximately 35 employees of the company, including at least two senior executives, have agreed to sign, several people told Business Insider.
Business Insider spoke to 12 insiders, including current employees, former employees, executives, and board members. Five of them came alone, asking for anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press. Others were allowed but asked for anonymity because they talked to Business Insider during private conversations, not monitored by the company 's public relations professionals, as the company said. generally require businesses.
"All that is wrong with the technology industry today"
The star director began writing the letter about six weeks after Yusupov co-founder Colin Kroll, 34, was found dead in his New York apartment of an apparent drug overdose.
Yusupov and Kroll co-founded Vine, the short-lived video application purchased by Twitter for $ 30 million, even before it was launched.
They built two flops at Intermedia Labs before launching HQ Trivia, an interactive video game app that allows users to win real money prizes. But HQ, like Vine, has become an instant phenomenon, with Silicon Valley and Hollywood being named the big news. The game even spawned a QG Trivia cheating industry.
But behind the scenes, the two founders were engaged in a struggle for power.
"When you have a product instantly hit, and you're suddenly famous for the second time in Silicon Valley, and you spend a lot of money … the ego takes off," said one former employee who left the company. "These two were trapped in a very immature way and they decided to shoot each other."
HQ Trivia tells the story of "all that is wrong with the technology industry today," added this person.
Yusupov was removed from his position as general manager in September and this role was given to Kroll. When he came back as CEO of Intermedia Labs after Kroll's death a few months later, in December, the work environment was like a barrel of powder, as described by people. Some mourned the loss of Kroll, their friend and boss. Others said that, if Yusupov was a brilliant designer, he was a mediocre CEO, subject to micro-management but also to indecision.
And attendance at QG Trivia's main show had started since the spring, rising from a peak of 2.5 million daily users to its peak in 2018 to less than 300,000 in February – a drop that continues since that day. (In April, a daily match attracted some 126,000 people, a 95% drop from the top.)
Some staff felt that management had no plan to stop the bleeding. The leadership, they said, blamed the summer season, the slowness of the media (pointing out that TV shows are rarely launched in the summer) and the nature of viral applications, which can break down as quickly as they can. They are.
But many felt that the company's mistakes, its internal conflict and Yusupov's questionable leadership were also to blame.
"When Rus was reinstated as CEO, no one wanted to, he was sacked by the board, he failed miserably, delighted the company from 2.5 million to less than 400,000 in August. but it has no project, no strategy, nothing new to add to the application, "said an employee.
The relationship between Yusupov and the comedian Scott Rogowsky, the star host of QG Trivia, become a cult figure of the Internet known as "Quizdaddy", was also toxic.
Earlier this month, Rogowsky left the show to host a new baseball-themed show called "Change-up" for the DAZN streaming service.
He tried to renegotiate his contract with headquarters to continue to broadcast the Sunday show and make special appearances, told us an insider, but the management team was fired for breach of contract. (His contract required that he make daily broadcasts).
Internally, executives said that Rogowsky was tough, and that they had survey data from top players, suggesting that other hosts were as friendly as the affable Quizdaddy.
Others said that Rogowsky was not difficult. He was "miserable", as we have described. He did not like how Yusupov treated him or the apparent trajectory of the company. Another also said that his new job brought in more.
The February meeting that exploded in all faces
When some of the letter's supporters went to dinner to discuss the issue, they wondered whether they had to register their real name or go the anonymous way by signing "plus one". They chose anonymity, fearing having to pay their work against Yusupov.
The chief executive responsible for the letter decided to postpone his postponement after the February board meeting, in the hope that the board would rectify the ship without the employees mutinating completely.
His intuition has proven to be good. Jeremy Liew, an investor and board member, told employees after the board meeting this month that Yusupov had agreed to resign as CEO – somehow .
He had agreed to look for a replacement.
In the meantime, he would remain in charge, but only within a management team consisting of three people: Benjamin Sheats, vice president of engineering and Nick Gallo, head of production. The leaders who would lead the company were informed of their membership in the new three-headed management team once the decision was made, said one insider.
Once the new CEO is on board, Yusupov will become the executive chairman, with no direct report.
Lightspeed, one of the first investors at headquarters, also agreed to give the company enough cash to give the new CEO an 18-month hedge, Liew told his employees. If the HQ was not in better shape then, maybe something was wrong, Liew joked half-heartedly at the meeting with his bare hands.
In the end, the letter was never sent and Yusupov never saw it, according to insiders. But in such a small company and with so many people involved in the letter, we became aware of it.
Lights, poisons
One of the first steps of the management team was to fire three employees, including this former employee and the one who helped find more supporters to sign the letter. As some insiders have said, the message seemed to be the following: those who objected verbally to Yusupov had gone out.
"We got rid of the inefficient and badly engrossed employees who were not part of the team," explained one of the leaders involved in this decision. "There is no poison around and everyone is excited now."
Some employees expressed concern that Yusupov still hopes to be reinstated as CEO. But leaders involved in CEO search said it would not happen.
"The research is going fast and well – because of the innovations at the heart of the headquarters, there are very few exciting opportunities like this.The research has generated a lot of interest from highly qualified candidates. accomplished, "Elie Seidman, a member of the board of directors, told Business Insider. . (The work of Seidman is Tinder's CEO.)
Another reason to believe that Yusupov will be absent: he does not control the table.
Liew, who was friends with Kroll before investing in the company and who was widely considered to be closer to Kroll than Yusupov, still has his seat on the board for the time being. He should give way to the new CEO. Meanwhile, Grace Lightspeed's Grace has also joined the board, perhaps in Kroll's place.
Yusupov remains on the board and Seidman sits at a second seat controlled by Yusupov, but he supports CEO search, Seidman said. Cyan Banister, of Founders Fund, left the board some time ago and his seat remains vacant.
In addition to this, a board member told Business Insider that the CEO of the head office had the power to dismiss any worker, even a co-founder.
So, Yusupov has agreed to no longer be CEO, he told Business Insider.
Bickering and tragedy
The current rise and fall of QG Trivia are rooted in the complicated relationship of the founders, agreed all insiders.
While Kroll and Yusupov were still arguing, they also complemented each other: Kroll was the methodical technical guru and Yusupov the wizard "whimsical and creative," it was said.
This combination allowed them to come up with "brilliant" product ideas, such as Vine and HQ Trivia.
When HQ increased and then dropped, co-founder feuds escalated. Kroll would criticize one aspect of the product and Yusupov would dig and argue about it. Yusupov would have an idea and Kroll would minimize it. They discussed each topic, many insiders said. "Everyone saw themselves as the genie behind this idea," said a former employee.
When Recode published an article in December 2017 claiming that the company, despite its viral growth, was struggling to raise funds because of Kroll's past in Vine for Twitter, tensions between the founders worsened, employees. The story contained accusations against Kroll's mismanagement and terrifying behavior towards Vine's women. Kroll then publicly acknowledged to Axios that he had been fired from Vine for mismanagement and had apologized for making people uncomfortable.
Some headquarters employees suspected that the relationship between Kroll and Yusupov had become so toxic that Yusupov was somehow involved in Recode to inquire about Kroll's problems in Vine.
Relatives of the two men told Business Insider that Yusupov had not fled to Recode. But this is the level of distrust of some employees of the headquarters for Yusupov.
A few months after the Recode article, the head office raised $ 15 million from one of the leading venture capital funds, Founders Fund, with an impressive valuation of $ 100 million (a total of nearly $ 24 million).
From confidant to HR complaint
In June 2018, the head office began experimenting with advertising revenue, just as Facebook launched its interactive video features with three partners. New issues include Confetti, a Facebook Watch quiz featuring cash prizes from Insider, the parent company of Business Insider.
For the first time, HQ Trivia was facing competition, not just from anyone, but from Facebook. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg banned Vine from accessing Facebook after it was purchased by Twitter. Twitter closed Vine 2016.
At headquarters, Kroll and Yusupov began spending money on experimental projects, several employees said. These included the launch and rapid destruction of several international programs, the creation of huge jackpots – none of which contributed to growth – and the booking of more celebrities.
By July 2018, the daily number of players at headquarters had decreased by hundreds of thousands. Kroll was arriving late and in disarray, an employee said.
He began sending messages to his employees, saying several people said he was worried. These included "strange" messages, sent at odd hours, saying angry things about Zuckerberg.
The employee spoke to Yusupov about these strange messages. Kroll was in a dark place, maybe even taking drugs, the confidant said. Yusupov insisted that she inform the human resources, the legal department and the board of directors.
What he did not mention: Around this time, as HQ figures collapsed and money was burned after unsuccessful experiments, the board was considering nominating him. as CEO in favor of Kroll.
Once the woman filed her reports at the request of her CEO, the company hired an investigator to investigate the case. But when the confidante addressed the jury, some members seemed skeptical. "Has anyone prepared for this?" at least one of them asked him, told us a person familiar with the situation. The implication: she was conspiring with Yusupov to prevent Kroll from being named CEO.
Hours in a room without a window
In September, the Kroll investigation was over but his tensions with Yusupov intensified. The two were often seen arguing in conference rooms.
"Colin was extremely stressed, I can attest," another former employee told us.
That month, Liew, Kroll and Yusupov locked themselves in a windowless conference room for hours in a stormy battle, insiders said. They discussed the removal of Yusupov as CEO. Banister has withdrawn from the meeting and the board of directors, apparently because Founders Fund is proud to never dismiss the founding CEOs.
In the end, they stripped Yusupov of his title as CEO and attributed it to Kroll; Yusupov himself finally accepted the plan.
Immediately after the meeting, Kroll convened a four-hand meeting to announce his new role to employees. The three leaders explained that the company wanted to optimize its "technical resources", so it was time to entrust Kroll, the technical expert.
One employee described the entire episode – from the role change of the CEO to the way employees were informed – "amateur hour".
Although some were encouraged by Yusupov's ouster, they would have preferred a more experienced successor than the "lesser of two evils," as one of them described.
"I do not think Colin was devilish, but he was not supposed to be CEO," said this employee.
Another explained this as follows: "Technicians have a good idea and become CEO? Who thinks it's a good idea? They did not go to business school.They have no Staff management experience and all of a sudden they run a business of 30, 50, 100 people?
Installed as CEO, Kroll acted quickly by implementing initiatives that had stagnated during turbulent months and rallying employees. The strange messages to the confidante have stopped and her working relationship with her has improved, said people.
In September, Kroll even won a spin in the press by informing Digiday of its role as CEO and that the company had generated $ 10 million in revenues through sponsored games, in-app purchases and HQ Trivia products. (The executives told Business Insider that their turnover was around $ 15 million at the end of the year.) Kroll said the game was experiencing fewer problems and banned fraudulent apps.
Then another bomb exploded.
In November, Recode reported on the battle of the conference room in September and the human rights complaint against Kroll. Employees who read the story quickly understood the identity of the woman, several insiders said. Several people close to Kroll have suspected Yusupov of disclosing him in an attempt to reinstate him as CEO. (Again, his family denies this.)
Kroll was concerned that the allegation that he was a bad boss, especially to women, "is what haunts him forever," one employee recalls.
Another lamented that Kroll was the subject of several negative reports on his story "that really hurt him," adding that he was "a nice guy and that he deserved nothing of that. I personally think that Rus was the one who was sabotaging his so-called partner. "
In December, Kroll's confidant left the headquarters. She had the impression of becoming a pawn between the two founders and to beware of Yusupov, said his relatives.
A few days later, Kroll was found dead. And Yusupov immediately returned as CEO.
Games and numbers
These days, the employees of Intermedia Labs who have survived all this drama are optimistic about the future.
Even though their number of players is a fraction of that of a year ago, their games can still draw up to 500,000 people a day, leaders said.
"The head office has experienced spectacular growth that is the envy of 99.9% of startups," says Seidman. "Although simultaneous users are at their lowest, the numbers are still envied 99.9% of startups.It is an early start and the team is working hard on the next act."
But the employees also said that the leadership had changed the way they displayed the number of competing players.
They now count all who enter the game, even if they leave immediately without playing. This number does not update to indicate the actual number of people connected before the first question, when people have always left the game, confirmed several people.
Meanwhile, the company is working on life beyond quizzes, including using its interactive video technology for live comedy shows and dating, an insider said.
The good CEO could revive society, even Yusupov admits.
"As the most important co-founder and sole shareholder of this company, nobody wants this company to outperform me," he said.
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