1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:10,093 --> 00:00:12,512 [electronic warbling] 4 00:00:12,595 --> 00:00:16,141 [mysterious music] 5 00:00:16,266 --> 00:00:23,440 ♪ ♪ 6 00:00:27,777 --> 00:00:31,281 - It's time beat the clock. 7 00:00:31,406 --> 00:00:34,701 - Are you tired of linear, non-interactive television? 8 00:00:34,784 --> 00:00:36,786 - As you've won this game, you now have a chance 9 00:00:36,911 --> 00:00:39,664 to answer the jackpot question, Dave Hodgson. 10 00:00:39,789 --> 00:00:41,332 - Don't even know what linear, 11 00:00:41,416 --> 00:00:43,168 non-interactive television means? 12 00:00:43,293 --> 00:00:45,920 - You're right for $32,000. [applause] 13 00:00:46,004 --> 00:00:48,882 [upbeat orchestral music on TV] 14 00:00:48,965 --> 00:00:50,800 - Are you tired of the sort of television 15 00:00:50,925 --> 00:00:52,886 that just happens at you? 16 00:00:52,969 --> 00:00:54,471 - Well, let's see what you've won. 17 00:00:54,596 --> 00:00:55,972 It's a honeymoon trip to Hawaii 18 00:00:56,056 --> 00:00:58,016 on your 50th anniversary. [applause] 19 00:00:58,141 --> 00:01:01,978 - That you just sit in front of like a couch potato? 20 00:01:02,103 --> 00:01:06,608 - Hello. What's this? Something wrong? 21 00:01:06,691 --> 00:01:09,444 - Come on. Interact with me. 22 00:01:09,527 --> 00:01:11,112 [mysterious musical crescendo] 23 00:01:11,196 --> 00:01:12,739 [notification chimes] - This is HQ, baby! 24 00:01:12,822 --> 00:01:14,240 The trivia game show on your phone 25 00:01:14,324 --> 00:01:16,326 where you answer questions to win cash! 26 00:01:16,409 --> 00:01:19,329 [all screaming] 27 00:01:19,412 --> 00:01:20,663 - So, $11.30. 28 00:01:20,789 --> 00:01:22,207 - Correct. I was just excited to win. 29 00:01:22,332 --> 00:01:23,291 - To win. 30 00:01:23,375 --> 00:01:24,376 - You're our winners, baby! 31 00:01:24,501 --> 00:01:25,877 - So many people, 32 00:01:26,002 --> 00:01:28,171 they're dropping everything to play this game. 33 00:01:28,296 --> 00:01:29,839 - Oh, my God! 34 00:01:29,923 --> 00:01:32,634 - We are talking about... both: HQ Trivia! 35 00:01:32,717 --> 00:01:34,177 - Joining us now are the co-founders, 36 00:01:34,302 --> 00:01:35,595 Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov. 37 00:01:35,679 --> 00:01:37,013 - These guys in charge are smart. 38 00:01:37,138 --> 00:01:39,307 They've invented Vine, they've invented HQ. 39 00:01:39,391 --> 00:01:40,725 - We grew up watching "Jeopardy" 40 00:01:40,850 --> 00:01:42,519 and "Wheel of Fortune." 41 00:01:42,602 --> 00:01:44,562 - I mean, who doesn't want to be a contestant on a game show? 42 00:01:44,688 --> 00:01:46,272 - Let's get this show on the road. 43 00:01:46,356 --> 00:01:47,524 - Yeah, baby! - Liftoff. 44 00:01:47,607 --> 00:01:49,067 [bouncy upbeat music] 45 00:01:49,192 --> 00:01:51,653 - Houston, thrusters go. You're looking good. 46 00:01:51,736 --> 00:01:53,196 - It was both just a game 47 00:01:53,279 --> 00:01:55,365 and also an attempt to revolutionize television. 48 00:01:55,448 --> 00:01:56,616 - Yes! - Yes! 49 00:01:56,700 --> 00:01:59,911 - Yes! - 2.3 million-plus of you. 50 00:02:00,036 --> 00:02:03,039 The most HQ players ever in a single game. 51 00:02:03,123 --> 00:02:04,833 - With viewers in more than 80 countries... 52 00:02:04,916 --> 00:02:07,002 - Tech entrepreneurs are the new rock stars. 53 00:02:07,085 --> 00:02:08,920 - Can we give away $1 million one day? 54 00:02:09,045 --> 00:02:10,213 I think so. 55 00:02:10,296 --> 00:02:11,715 - We went from a valuation of nothing 56 00:02:11,798 --> 00:02:13,883 to $100 million in six months. 57 00:02:13,967 --> 00:02:15,385 We had a Super Bowl commercial, 58 00:02:15,468 --> 00:02:16,720 billboards in Times Square. 59 00:02:16,845 --> 00:02:18,179 Couldn't walk down the street 60 00:02:18,263 --> 00:02:19,806 without getting mobbed for selfies. 61 00:02:19,889 --> 00:02:22,058 - I have never seen this level of fandom. 62 00:02:22,183 --> 00:02:24,019 - It can be a little overwhelming. 63 00:02:24,102 --> 00:02:25,812 - It is overwhelming. 64 00:02:25,895 --> 00:02:28,064 [gong chimes] - Now we're talking. 65 00:02:28,148 --> 00:02:29,816 - And ignition. 66 00:02:29,899 --> 00:02:32,152 - I don't know what happened with HQ. 67 00:02:32,235 --> 00:02:35,030 - It's a lot of mystery. One big question mark. 68 00:02:35,113 --> 00:02:37,032 - Now it was a weird thing 'cause you're co-founders. 69 00:02:37,115 --> 00:02:39,576 You'd think you do start these things with your friends. 70 00:02:39,659 --> 00:02:42,245 But... they didn't seem like friends. 71 00:02:42,370 --> 00:02:44,414 [cheers and applause] 72 00:02:44,539 --> 00:02:45,999 - It wasn't a good relationship. 73 00:02:46,082 --> 00:02:50,837 It was 150% pure and utter business and that's it. 74 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:52,380 - Colin Kroll's behavior was described 75 00:02:52,464 --> 00:02:55,467 as "creepy" at times, also "egregious." 76 00:02:55,592 --> 00:02:56,801 - Colin's speculating 77 00:02:56,926 --> 00:02:59,054 that Rus is orchestrating this whole thing. 78 00:02:59,137 --> 00:03:00,472 - You got a real sense 79 00:03:00,555 --> 00:03:02,098 of "Game Of Thrones" with the infighting. 80 00:03:02,182 --> 00:03:05,268 - These men in the tech industry will steamroll you. 81 00:03:05,393 --> 00:03:06,436 - If you show sign of weakness, 82 00:03:06,561 --> 00:03:07,771 that will impact your fundraising. 83 00:03:07,854 --> 00:03:08,938 - What do you love about yourself? 84 00:03:09,064 --> 00:03:09,856 - Everything. 85 00:03:09,939 --> 00:03:11,358 - There was a lot of anxiety. 86 00:03:11,441 --> 00:03:15,779 - Is this going to exist? Am I going to have job? 87 00:03:15,862 --> 00:03:19,115 - Someone lost their life at the end of this. 88 00:03:19,199 --> 00:03:22,619 - Some people come into our lives and leave too soon. 89 00:03:22,702 --> 00:03:23,870 - We may have an 90 00:03:23,953 --> 00:03:25,080 instrumentation problem, flight. 91 00:03:25,163 --> 00:03:26,373 - Roger. 92 00:03:26,456 --> 00:03:27,832 - The way technology firms 93 00:03:27,957 --> 00:03:30,210 approach their operations is ready, fire, aim. 94 00:03:30,293 --> 00:03:32,128 - Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here. 95 00:03:32,253 --> 00:03:34,798 - And if there's a little collateral damage, 96 00:03:34,881 --> 00:03:36,299 you know, so be it. 97 00:03:36,424 --> 00:03:38,677 [dramatic music] 98 00:03:38,802 --> 00:03:41,680 [mysterious music] 99 00:03:41,805 --> 00:03:48,728 ♪ ♪ 100 00:03:49,854 --> 00:03:51,898 - Can we show the technical difficulties graphic? 101 00:03:51,981 --> 00:03:53,525 That's always a fun time, right? 102 00:03:53,650 --> 00:03:55,151 - Oh, wow, glitch, glitch, glitch! 103 00:03:55,276 --> 00:03:56,611 - Oh! 104 00:03:58,363 --> 00:04:01,282 [clocks ticking musically] 105 00:04:01,366 --> 00:04:07,080 ♪ ♪ 106 00:04:07,163 --> 00:04:08,998 - Okay! Winston is here right now. 107 00:04:09,082 --> 00:04:10,792 A bunch of tech news as well 108 00:04:10,875 --> 00:04:12,419 as what we have coming up a little later on. 109 00:04:12,502 --> 00:04:14,254 Let's start, first of all, talking about Vine. 110 00:04:14,337 --> 00:04:16,840 - Twitter's Vine app is making YouTube 111 00:04:16,965 --> 00:04:18,842 feel so six seconds ago. 112 00:04:18,925 --> 00:04:20,343 - Are you a Viner? - Yes! 113 00:04:20,427 --> 00:04:22,178 - I'm not a Viner, but I know all about it. 114 00:04:22,303 --> 00:04:25,640 ♪ ♪ 115 00:04:25,724 --> 00:04:27,225 - [exhales quickly] That was a close one-- 116 00:04:28,351 --> 00:04:30,395 - Vine started in 2012. 117 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:32,188 Instead of Instagram, 118 00:04:32,272 --> 00:04:34,816 where it's like a feed of just still photos back in the day... 119 00:04:34,899 --> 00:04:38,028 - Yeah! - Vine was short videos. 120 00:04:38,111 --> 00:04:39,738 - Who wants to get crazy for New Year's? 121 00:04:39,863 --> 00:04:41,573 [all screaming] 122 00:04:41,698 --> 00:04:43,324 [glass shatters] - Yeah! 123 00:04:43,408 --> 00:04:47,037 - Vine was most interesting in the fact of its limitations. 124 00:04:47,162 --> 00:04:49,914 You could only have a six-second video 125 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,418 and you only get one shot to record it. 126 00:04:53,543 --> 00:04:56,713 - It had created this cultural phenomenon where, 127 00:04:56,796 --> 00:04:59,007 because the videos were so short, 128 00:04:59,090 --> 00:05:01,593 that let people make whole storyboards 129 00:05:01,676 --> 00:05:03,303 inside this tiny little time frame. 130 00:05:03,386 --> 00:05:05,221 - Whoa! Oh! - Y'all felt that turbulence? 131 00:05:05,305 --> 00:05:06,389 - Yeah. - Is everything all right? 132 00:05:06,514 --> 00:05:07,724 - Hey, I don't know. 133 00:05:07,849 --> 00:05:08,975 Text me if you make it though. Whoo-hoo! 134 00:05:09,059 --> 00:05:10,560 - It had that comedic timing 135 00:05:10,685 --> 00:05:12,687 of everything ending right at its own climax 136 00:05:12,771 --> 00:05:17,275 that made it so addictive and you'd just scroll for hours. 137 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:18,610 - Stupid. 138 00:05:18,735 --> 00:05:19,986 - Officer, I got one question for you... 139 00:05:20,070 --> 00:05:21,196 - People shared video memes... 140 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:23,198 - [shouting] What are those? 141 00:05:23,281 --> 00:05:25,909 - That other people would share their own remixes and spins on. 142 00:05:25,992 --> 00:05:27,327 - [shouting] What are those? 143 00:05:27,410 --> 00:05:29,079 - They are my Crocs. 144 00:05:29,204 --> 00:05:31,539 - Creating this chain of inside jokes. 145 00:05:31,623 --> 00:05:34,626 I've even made a few very terrible Vines myself. 146 00:05:34,751 --> 00:05:36,670 - D-D-D-D- DJ Hand Dryer. 147 00:05:36,753 --> 00:05:38,588 [moving air whipping rhythmically] 148 00:05:38,672 --> 00:05:41,883 It's what pioneered the concept that powers TikTok today. 149 00:05:41,966 --> 00:05:43,218 - To me, it's like a video tease. 150 00:05:43,301 --> 00:05:44,594 I don't quite-- I'll have to watch. 151 00:05:44,719 --> 00:05:46,429 - Six seconds. It's an art form. 152 00:05:46,554 --> 00:05:49,432 [soft dramatic music] 153 00:05:49,557 --> 00:05:51,267 ♪ ♪ 154 00:05:51,393 --> 00:05:54,396 - So the founders of Vine were Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov. 155 00:05:54,479 --> 00:05:56,564 ♪ ♪ 156 00:05:56,648 --> 00:06:00,110 Colin Kroll, the engineer, was the big visionary, 157 00:06:00,235 --> 00:06:02,862 the one that saw the opportunity for this app 158 00:06:02,946 --> 00:06:04,280 and this long-term vision 159 00:06:04,406 --> 00:06:06,408 for how social media could change... 160 00:06:06,491 --> 00:06:08,034 - We run in EC2. 161 00:06:08,118 --> 00:06:09,452 We're written in Python 162 00:06:09,536 --> 00:06:13,331 and we use a slew of open source technology. 163 00:06:13,456 --> 00:06:16,251 - And Rus was product designer and kinda the manager. 164 00:06:16,334 --> 00:06:20,088 - I was just, uh... writing a bit of a bio. 165 00:06:20,171 --> 00:06:22,340 - He was the one who could actually make it all happen, 166 00:06:22,465 --> 00:06:24,718 get all the pieces moving in the right direction 167 00:06:24,801 --> 00:06:26,344 and make sure the infrastructure was ready 168 00:06:26,469 --> 00:06:28,221 so people could share their creativity. 169 00:06:28,304 --> 00:06:30,015 - If you see me now, tap on your screen. 170 00:06:30,140 --> 00:06:31,641 Let me know that you guys are here. 171 00:06:31,725 --> 00:06:34,227 - Around May of 2012, we set out 172 00:06:34,310 --> 00:06:39,482 to make creating and sharing videos on mobile really fun 173 00:06:39,566 --> 00:06:41,276 and really easy 'cause at the time, 174 00:06:41,359 --> 00:06:45,321 it was dreadful and we knew there was a better way. 175 00:06:45,405 --> 00:06:48,825 - Twitter bought Vine for a reported $30 million. 176 00:06:48,950 --> 00:06:50,368 - Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov-- 177 00:06:50,493 --> 00:06:53,663 - Sold Vine to Twitter for 30 million. 178 00:06:53,747 --> 00:06:55,498 [overlapping chatter] 179 00:06:55,582 --> 00:06:58,752 - And they actually sold Vine before it even launched, 180 00:06:58,835 --> 00:07:00,295 which was a very big surprise, 181 00:07:00,378 --> 00:07:02,505 'cause most startups want to get big first 182 00:07:02,630 --> 00:07:03,798 and then get acquired. 183 00:07:03,882 --> 00:07:05,342 - The video sharing app, Vine, 184 00:07:05,425 --> 00:07:08,928 was launched just in January by Twitter. 185 00:07:09,012 --> 00:07:11,514 - When Rus and Colin sold Vine to Twitter, 186 00:07:11,639 --> 00:07:13,975 they went to work for Twitter building out 187 00:07:14,059 --> 00:07:15,977 and popularizing this product 188 00:07:16,061 --> 00:07:20,273 and they helped it go from zero to 60 million-plus users. 189 00:07:20,357 --> 00:07:23,360 - Girl, he's so Vine! He's not yours, he's Vine! 190 00:07:23,485 --> 00:07:27,030 - You should follow me on Vine. [cheers and applause] 191 00:07:27,155 --> 00:07:30,408 - Perhaps when they were in the quiet before, 192 00:07:30,533 --> 00:07:32,369 now being a part of Twitter, everyone was like, 193 00:07:32,452 --> 00:07:33,953 "Well, who are these guys?" You know? 194 00:07:34,037 --> 00:07:35,538 And they were like, accepting awards 195 00:07:35,622 --> 00:07:37,707 and they were at, like, every industry event, 196 00:07:37,791 --> 00:07:39,959 really being celebrated as founders. 197 00:07:40,043 --> 00:07:41,628 - I mean, you guys have grown so much 198 00:07:41,711 --> 00:07:43,213 and so many people are using it in creative ways. 199 00:07:43,338 --> 00:07:44,881 Like, where do you see it going? 200 00:07:45,006 --> 00:07:46,883 - Oh, I think we had no idea when we started 201 00:07:47,008 --> 00:07:48,218 and we're just holding on. 202 00:07:48,343 --> 00:07:49,928 - NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman 203 00:07:50,053 --> 00:07:52,889 sent the first Vine video from Earth orbit 204 00:07:52,972 --> 00:07:54,432 out to his Twitter followers. 205 00:07:54,557 --> 00:07:56,101 - Roger, 11. 206 00:07:56,226 --> 00:07:58,895 It certainly looks like you're well on your way now. 207 00:07:59,020 --> 00:08:02,315 - But when you get acquired, you give up control. 208 00:08:02,399 --> 00:08:06,569 all: ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ 209 00:08:06,653 --> 00:08:08,822 ♪ Happy birthday, dear-- ♪ 210 00:08:08,905 --> 00:08:10,573 - [laughing] 211 00:08:10,699 --> 00:08:12,158 - Unfortunately, 212 00:08:12,242 --> 00:08:14,411 when Vine wasn't quite growing fast enough 213 00:08:14,536 --> 00:08:16,079 and Twitter, its parent company, 214 00:08:16,162 --> 00:08:18,873 was in a cash crunch, it shut down Vine... 215 00:08:18,957 --> 00:08:20,458 - Twitter is shutting down 216 00:08:20,583 --> 00:08:23,628 the Vine video app and laying off 350 people. 217 00:08:23,753 --> 00:08:27,173 - Which shocked the internet and stranded tons of creators 218 00:08:27,257 --> 00:08:28,842 who had built their livelihood on the app. 219 00:08:28,925 --> 00:08:31,177 - Hey, bud. Heard about Vine. 220 00:08:31,261 --> 00:08:33,096 - [crying] Vine's shutting down. 221 00:08:33,179 --> 00:08:34,556 - Thank you, guys, for following me 222 00:08:34,639 --> 00:08:35,724 for the last few years. 223 00:08:35,807 --> 00:08:37,434 - After Twitter shut down Vine, 224 00:08:37,517 --> 00:08:40,270 founder Rus Yusupov famously tweeted... 225 00:08:42,147 --> 00:08:43,815 [dissonant notes] 226 00:08:43,940 --> 00:08:47,444 - I think Rus' tweet, it just showed, 227 00:08:47,569 --> 00:08:49,029 you know, instant regret. 228 00:08:49,112 --> 00:08:51,740 [soft dramatic music] 229 00:08:51,823 --> 00:08:55,368 Like, you know, what if? 230 00:08:55,452 --> 00:08:56,453 Like--right? 231 00:08:56,536 --> 00:08:57,871 Like, if he hadn't sold the company, 232 00:08:57,954 --> 00:08:59,664 what would have happened to Vine? 233 00:08:59,789 --> 00:09:01,875 ♪ ♪ 234 00:09:01,958 --> 00:09:05,462 - Vine was TikTok before TikTok was TikTok. 235 00:09:05,587 --> 00:09:09,132 So you gotta think that every shareholder and manager 236 00:09:09,215 --> 00:09:12,344 at Twitter has really reconsidered-- 237 00:09:12,469 --> 00:09:13,511 [chuckles] 238 00:09:13,636 --> 00:09:15,930 The decision to shut that thing down 239 00:09:16,014 --> 00:09:18,725 and even though they only sold it for $30 million, 240 00:09:18,808 --> 00:09:23,063 let's assume that Rus and Colin each got 10 million. 241 00:09:23,146 --> 00:09:24,647 The difference between 10 million 242 00:09:24,731 --> 00:09:27,108 and a billion is meaningful. 243 00:09:27,192 --> 00:09:28,735 - And I think that meant 244 00:09:28,818 --> 00:09:30,153 that they always had a bit of a chip on their shoulder 245 00:09:30,278 --> 00:09:31,988 of wanting to take another shot 246 00:09:32,113 --> 00:09:33,823 at building something truly big. 247 00:09:33,948 --> 00:09:35,158 [dissonant tones] 248 00:09:35,283 --> 00:09:38,161 [notifications chiming] 249 00:09:39,371 --> 00:09:44,084 - I got a call from a friend of mine and said, 250 00:09:44,167 --> 00:09:48,171 "Hey, man, I'm working these guys who started Vine 251 00:09:48,296 --> 00:09:52,175 "and they want to do this trivia show on the phone 252 00:09:52,258 --> 00:09:53,843 "and we're looking for a host 253 00:09:53,927 --> 00:09:55,512 "and, you know, I thought of you. 254 00:09:55,637 --> 00:09:57,597 Do you want to come in and audition for it?" 255 00:09:57,681 --> 00:10:01,851 - Please give it up or Scott Rogowsky! 256 00:10:01,976 --> 00:10:03,728 - I never booked anything in New York, really, 257 00:10:03,853 --> 00:10:06,106 you know, when it came to auditioning for things. 258 00:10:06,189 --> 00:10:09,359 This is very exciting. This is my club debut. 259 00:10:09,484 --> 00:10:11,361 Maybe you saw the full page ad my mother took out 260 00:10:11,486 --> 00:10:13,405 in the "Westchester Jewish Chronicle"? 261 00:10:13,530 --> 00:10:15,115 [laughter] 262 00:10:15,198 --> 00:10:16,449 Honestly, I put a decade into the comedy scene 263 00:10:16,533 --> 00:10:18,159 in New York, grinding it out. 264 00:10:18,243 --> 00:10:19,703 - Do you mind my laughing at you? 265 00:10:19,786 --> 00:10:21,162 - I don't mind at all! 266 00:10:21,246 --> 00:10:22,664 I wish the audience would join you, though. 267 00:10:22,747 --> 00:10:25,208 - I had the subway book cover video. 268 00:10:25,291 --> 00:10:26,793 So that was, like, 269 00:10:26,876 --> 00:10:28,545 I had a little bit of recognition from that, 270 00:10:28,670 --> 00:10:30,255 but I had certainly not reached the point 271 00:10:30,380 --> 00:10:32,215 of getting offers from Comedy Central 272 00:10:32,298 --> 00:10:34,426 or network TV or-- 273 00:10:34,551 --> 00:10:38,346 so I had decided to give up on New York and move to LA. 274 00:10:38,430 --> 00:10:41,725 "Maybe I'll be discovered." That was my romantic ideal. 275 00:10:41,850 --> 00:10:43,309 Gave up my apartment 276 00:10:43,393 --> 00:10:45,937 But what the hell? One last audition. 277 00:10:46,062 --> 00:10:47,564 - Take one. Marker. - [chuckles] 278 00:10:47,647 --> 00:10:49,024 - Scott, whenever you're ready, man. 279 00:10:49,107 --> 00:10:50,025 Just roll. Have fun. - All right. 280 00:10:50,108 --> 00:10:51,526 - Do whatever you want. 281 00:10:51,609 --> 00:10:53,737 - Hello, there! I'm your host, Scott Rogowsky. 282 00:10:53,820 --> 00:10:55,238 We're live from New York City, 283 00:10:55,321 --> 00:10:56,698 and we have a full house here in the studio-- 284 00:10:56,781 --> 00:10:58,908 I showed up looking pretty unkempt 285 00:10:59,034 --> 00:11:02,287 in this moth-eaten sweater with my glasses, 286 00:11:02,412 --> 00:11:04,539 which I don't normally wear when I do those things. 287 00:11:04,622 --> 00:11:06,249 The first round of Hype Q starts 288 00:11:06,374 --> 00:11:08,084 in just a couple of minutes. 289 00:11:08,168 --> 00:11:09,502 No one really knew what this was. 290 00:11:09,586 --> 00:11:11,087 "Come up with a little intro for yourself." 291 00:11:11,212 --> 00:11:12,964 [sighs] Where am I? What is this place? 292 00:11:13,089 --> 00:11:14,382 "Come up with some jokes up top 293 00:11:14,466 --> 00:11:15,633 and then just read the questions." 294 00:11:15,759 --> 00:11:17,260 First question of the day. 295 00:11:17,385 --> 00:11:20,764 Where was the viral video titled "Double Rainbow" filmed? 296 00:11:20,847 --> 00:11:21,931 I just went in-- 297 00:11:22,057 --> 00:11:24,059 I went into it with a confidence 298 00:11:24,142 --> 00:11:26,728 that only comes from not giving a shit. 299 00:11:26,811 --> 00:11:30,440 More cards, more cash tomorrow. See ya there! 300 00:11:30,523 --> 00:11:31,524 Nicky Balls! 301 00:11:31,608 --> 00:11:33,860 - Yo! Cut! This is good. Thank you. Great. 302 00:11:33,943 --> 00:11:36,821 [upbeat music] 303 00:11:36,946 --> 00:11:39,491 - Well, good morning to you on this Friday. 304 00:11:39,616 --> 00:11:43,036 Have you ever heard of this? It's called fidget spinners. 305 00:11:43,119 --> 00:11:44,704 - The hottest new toy. 306 00:11:44,788 --> 00:11:45,955 - The toy is banned by some schools in Minnesota 307 00:11:46,039 --> 00:11:47,457 and Massachusetts. 308 00:11:47,540 --> 00:11:49,209 - Even though I work in the app world, 309 00:11:49,292 --> 00:11:51,503 I'm not very in-the-know on what all the cool apps are. 310 00:11:51,628 --> 00:11:52,962 I don't even know 311 00:11:53,046 --> 00:11:55,382 if I would have ever played HQ if I didn't work there. 312 00:11:55,465 --> 00:11:58,468 I think what made Rus and Colin special 313 00:11:58,551 --> 00:12:00,970 is that they were able to see the future 314 00:12:01,096 --> 00:12:02,639 before everyone else could see it. 315 00:12:02,764 --> 00:12:05,642 - My co-founder, Colin and I, we thought, "Hey, 316 00:12:05,725 --> 00:12:07,310 let's combine some of our favorite elements 317 00:12:07,394 --> 00:12:10,939 of mobile gaming, live video and TV production, 318 00:12:11,022 --> 00:12:12,023 mash 'em together. 319 00:12:12,148 --> 00:12:13,983 We grew up watching "Jeopardy" 320 00:12:14,109 --> 00:12:15,360 and "Wheel of Fortune." 321 00:12:15,485 --> 00:12:18,154 We thought, "Hey, if we build a game show 322 00:12:18,279 --> 00:12:19,823 "that we would actually play ourselves, 323 00:12:19,906 --> 00:12:21,199 that it just might work." 324 00:12:21,324 --> 00:12:22,492 - I mean, who doesn't want 325 00:12:22,617 --> 00:12:23,702 to be a contestant on a game show? 326 00:12:23,827 --> 00:12:25,203 ♪ ♪ 327 00:12:25,328 --> 00:12:27,580 - The entire job of both a startup founder 328 00:12:27,664 --> 00:12:29,541 and an investor is to predict the future... 329 00:12:29,666 --> 00:12:31,209 - More and more of the video viewing 330 00:12:31,334 --> 00:12:33,294 that has historically happened on TV 331 00:12:33,378 --> 00:12:35,088 is happening through other channels now. 332 00:12:35,171 --> 00:12:36,840 - And Jeremy Liew, 333 00:12:36,923 --> 00:12:39,300 famous for making a huge early investment in Snapchat, 334 00:12:39,384 --> 00:12:41,803 was HQ Trivia's first big investor. 335 00:12:41,886 --> 00:12:44,723 - Because he saw it, really, as this new form of media 336 00:12:44,848 --> 00:12:45,974 really changing the game. 337 00:12:46,057 --> 00:12:48,143 ♪ ♪ 338 00:12:48,226 --> 00:12:51,688 - Went in on the first day to start generating graphics. 339 00:12:51,813 --> 00:12:54,733 What I really learned from Rus was... 340 00:12:54,858 --> 00:12:55,942 the art of minimalism. 341 00:12:56,026 --> 00:12:57,527 ♪ ♪ 342 00:12:57,652 --> 00:13:00,530 They handed me a sheet with about six colors, 343 00:13:00,613 --> 00:13:03,616 a circle, an X, or the triangle 344 00:13:03,700 --> 00:13:06,202 and Rus was basically, like, "All right, now, 345 00:13:06,327 --> 00:13:10,373 your job is to make this a whole universe." 346 00:13:10,498 --> 00:13:12,125 You know, 'cause the idea is you're gonna stare 347 00:13:12,208 --> 00:13:15,295 at this tiny screen for a long time. 348 00:13:15,378 --> 00:13:17,839 It's gotta feel like it's really big. 349 00:13:17,922 --> 00:13:20,216 ♪ ♪ 350 00:13:20,300 --> 00:13:21,926 Then, kind of as a favor, 351 00:13:22,052 --> 00:13:24,429 because Scott's, you know, one of my best friends, 352 00:13:24,554 --> 00:13:26,556 out of all the people that auditioned, 353 00:13:26,639 --> 00:13:31,227 I took Scott's footage and used it to develop the prototype. 354 00:13:31,353 --> 00:13:33,480 - All right! First question. 355 00:13:36,649 --> 00:13:38,610 - Once the people in charge saw that, 356 00:13:38,735 --> 00:13:40,403 they couldn't separate him from the app. 357 00:13:40,528 --> 00:13:42,864 - Yosemite National Park, the correct answer. 358 00:13:42,947 --> 00:13:44,699 It's so beautiful! 359 00:13:44,783 --> 00:13:46,534 Congrats to those of you who made it to the next round-- 360 00:13:46,618 --> 00:13:50,330 I think I auditioned for HQ in April and in May, 361 00:13:50,413 --> 00:13:53,750 they said, "Hey, man, like, you got the job." 362 00:13:53,833 --> 00:13:56,252 ♪ ♪ 363 00:13:56,378 --> 00:13:58,213 I said, "Great, okay. Let's do this." 364 00:13:58,296 --> 00:14:00,173 So, I came into the office. 365 00:14:00,256 --> 00:14:01,925 ♪ ♪ 366 00:14:02,050 --> 00:14:04,636 In that first meeting, my impressions of Rus and Colin 367 00:14:04,761 --> 00:14:07,347 were they had very much of that tech guy vibe. 368 00:14:07,430 --> 00:14:08,932 There was a Vine pillow. 369 00:14:09,015 --> 00:14:11,768 I remember they put the Vine pillow on the couch. 370 00:14:11,893 --> 00:14:14,270 I didn't use Vine. I didn't have a Vine account. 371 00:14:14,354 --> 00:14:15,730 Six-second video! 372 00:14:15,814 --> 00:14:18,233 That, to me, spelled the death of show business. 373 00:14:18,316 --> 00:14:21,319 [applause] 374 00:14:21,444 --> 00:14:22,821 I've always been an old soul. 375 00:14:22,946 --> 00:14:26,700 I have books about Jack Benny and George Burns 376 00:14:26,783 --> 00:14:28,451 and the Marx Brothers in my libraries. 377 00:14:28,576 --> 00:14:30,495 - Welcome, welcome to "You Bet Your Wife--" 378 00:14:30,620 --> 00:14:32,205 eh, "Bet Your Life." 379 00:14:32,288 --> 00:14:35,458 - I loved the old comedy and... so, yeah, 380 00:14:35,542 --> 00:14:40,755 this new-fangled, new age live-streaming on an app, 381 00:14:40,839 --> 00:14:44,843 like, to me, I didn't have high hopes for it. 382 00:14:45,802 --> 00:14:49,139 Okay. All right. I think we're all locked in here. 383 00:14:49,264 --> 00:14:51,016 And the very first shows were just, 384 00:14:51,141 --> 00:14:52,475 you know, internal tests... 385 00:14:52,559 --> 00:14:54,561 First question of the day. 386 00:14:56,604 --> 00:14:57,981 Just to make sure that you could, 387 00:14:58,064 --> 00:15:00,316 you know, tap an answer and it would register... 388 00:15:00,442 --> 00:15:01,526 The answer is space. 389 00:15:01,651 --> 00:15:02,819 And the chat would work... 390 00:15:02,902 --> 00:15:04,404 Let's see. 391 00:15:04,487 --> 00:15:06,906 And then it was time to go live. 392 00:15:06,990 --> 00:15:08,491 This is live! This is not recorded. 393 00:15:08,575 --> 00:15:09,784 I'm talking to you right now! 394 00:15:09,868 --> 00:15:11,536 The first beta shows were catching on 395 00:15:11,661 --> 00:15:13,496 among, like, the New York tech community. 396 00:15:13,621 --> 00:15:15,165 Thank you, again, for signing up. 397 00:15:15,248 --> 00:15:16,541 Tell your friends about this. 398 00:15:16,666 --> 00:15:19,002 - When I started, HQ hadn't yet launched. 399 00:15:19,085 --> 00:15:20,587 It was still in beta. 400 00:15:20,670 --> 00:15:22,005 My husband signed up, we played every night. 401 00:15:22,088 --> 00:15:23,298 - I'm gonna ask you questions, 402 00:15:23,381 --> 00:15:24,632 you're gonna answer the questions. 403 00:15:24,716 --> 00:15:26,426 If you get them right, you win 50 bucks. 404 00:15:26,509 --> 00:15:28,011 - Like, what's the catch, right? 405 00:15:28,136 --> 00:15:29,346 But there was no catch. 406 00:15:29,471 --> 00:15:31,765 You could actually win real money. 407 00:15:31,848 --> 00:15:33,058 - Next question. 408 00:15:33,183 --> 00:15:34,517 What is the most popular emoji used in France? 409 00:15:34,642 --> 00:15:35,852 I mean, you know, I was trying 410 00:15:35,935 --> 00:15:37,020 to make the questions funny and... 411 00:15:37,145 --> 00:15:38,104 The heart emoji! 412 00:15:38,188 --> 00:15:39,230 ...a little risqué. 413 00:15:39,356 --> 00:15:40,690 You know, it's funny, 414 00:15:40,774 --> 00:15:43,276 Bill Gates named his company after his penis. 415 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:45,528 Microsoft. 416 00:15:45,612 --> 00:15:47,864 [laugh track laughter] 417 00:15:47,989 --> 00:15:49,574 ♪ ♪ 418 00:15:49,699 --> 00:15:52,035 - We were shooting out this, like, makeshift closet. 419 00:15:52,118 --> 00:15:53,828 [chuckles] 420 00:15:53,912 --> 00:15:57,374 - It's a trivia game, live, from this very warm studio. 421 00:15:57,457 --> 00:15:58,875 - I was really excited to be there, 422 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,713 just watching this thing go live, like, from a room. 423 00:16:03,797 --> 00:16:05,757 Everybody wanted to just, like-- 424 00:16:05,882 --> 00:16:07,759 I call it, like, "Watch the baby grow." 425 00:16:07,884 --> 00:16:11,096 - And we're back, baby! HQ-cumbers. 426 00:16:11,221 --> 00:16:12,681 Still working on that. 427 00:16:12,764 --> 00:16:14,557 It's Scott, coming at you live on this Monday. 428 00:16:14,683 --> 00:16:16,643 Rus and Colin, from what I understand, 429 00:16:16,726 --> 00:16:19,688 they were co-founders and they were, like, co-CEOs. 430 00:16:19,771 --> 00:16:21,398 - Rus Yusupov, co-founder of HQ, 431 00:16:21,481 --> 00:16:22,565 thanks for being here. 432 00:16:22,691 --> 00:16:25,944 - Rus is the designer and so, 433 00:16:26,069 --> 00:16:28,655 he's supposed to be the more charismatic one 434 00:16:28,738 --> 00:16:31,783 and, you know, he's got his Tesla 435 00:16:31,908 --> 00:16:34,411 and, you know, had a vanity plate, 436 00:16:34,494 --> 00:16:36,329 "VINER" and just, like, 437 00:16:36,413 --> 00:16:38,081 you know, talking about Bitcoin. 438 00:16:38,206 --> 00:16:41,251 - I look up to the great entrepreneurs of our time. 439 00:16:41,376 --> 00:16:42,919 This is a controversial response, 440 00:16:43,044 --> 00:16:44,587 but I think Mark Zuckerberg has done an incredible job. 441 00:16:44,671 --> 00:16:46,423 I am an Elon Musk fanboy. 442 00:16:46,548 --> 00:16:47,924 - You know, like, just one of these guys who's just, 443 00:16:48,008 --> 00:16:52,220 like, so into the whole status of being in tech. 444 00:16:52,303 --> 00:16:53,263 - What do you love about yourself? 445 00:16:53,346 --> 00:16:55,682 - Everything. 446 00:16:55,765 --> 00:16:58,101 - Of course. "Ring around the rosie, pocket full of--" 447 00:16:58,184 --> 00:16:59,602 I mean-- - Pocketful of what? 448 00:16:59,686 --> 00:17:01,479 - Diapers. No. - Diapers! 449 00:17:01,604 --> 00:17:03,023 - Rus, he was very hands-on. 450 00:17:03,106 --> 00:17:05,525 He was doing the PR, doing the design... 451 00:17:05,608 --> 00:17:06,776 - Fact checked, verified. 452 00:17:06,860 --> 00:17:09,404 - He was doing the wardrobe. 453 00:17:09,487 --> 00:17:12,032 - Scott's wardrobe. 454 00:17:12,115 --> 00:17:13,491 It was kinda comical. 455 00:17:13,616 --> 00:17:16,161 I was sent to go find suits for Scott 456 00:17:16,286 --> 00:17:21,207 and Rus asked me to just like, take photos of every outfit. 457 00:17:21,291 --> 00:17:23,835 [laughing] I have so many photos of him! 458 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:25,962 And then, Rus was the one that ultimately, like, 459 00:17:26,046 --> 00:17:29,466 made the call to keep it or return it. 460 00:17:29,549 --> 00:17:31,092 [soft dramatic music] 461 00:17:31,176 --> 00:17:35,847 - Rus and Colin, they were almost polar opposites. 462 00:17:35,972 --> 00:17:37,223 ♪ ♪ 463 00:17:37,307 --> 00:17:40,477 I always got a sense from my very first day 464 00:17:40,602 --> 00:17:44,481 that Colin was a little socially awkward. 465 00:17:44,606 --> 00:17:47,067 I've been in tech so long that, like, 466 00:17:47,150 --> 00:17:49,319 [laughing] Most engineers are awkward. 467 00:17:49,444 --> 00:17:51,196 ♪ ♪ 468 00:17:51,321 --> 00:17:56,201 He was a genius at his craft, but he didn't want to be seen. 469 00:17:56,284 --> 00:17:58,328 All he cared about was the product. 470 00:17:58,453 --> 00:17:59,496 - Joining us now are the co-founders, 471 00:17:59,621 --> 00:18:01,664 Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov. 472 00:18:01,790 --> 00:18:03,541 - Colin did not enjoy being on camera. 473 00:18:03,667 --> 00:18:05,460 - Where's the prize money coming from now? 474 00:18:05,543 --> 00:18:07,462 - From us, for now. - And investors? 475 00:18:07,545 --> 00:18:08,546 - Very nervous. 476 00:18:08,672 --> 00:18:09,756 - And what's your background? 477 00:18:09,839 --> 00:18:11,174 - Well, I've been doing comedy-- 478 00:18:11,299 --> 00:18:13,426 Like, you know, palms sweaty nervous. 479 00:18:13,510 --> 00:18:16,429 I auditioned for this. You know, I go on-- 480 00:18:16,513 --> 00:18:17,972 Colin was so uncomfortable. 481 00:18:18,056 --> 00:18:19,891 [laughing] He never wanted to be on camera again. 482 00:18:20,016 --> 00:18:21,393 - And we realized that we've created 483 00:18:21,518 --> 00:18:22,852 a new category here-- 484 00:18:22,936 --> 00:18:24,521 - Rus was definitely more like, you know, 485 00:18:24,646 --> 00:18:26,523 he wanted the limelight, he wanted to be on camera. 486 00:18:26,606 --> 00:18:28,692 - You don't need a team of a thousand people. 487 00:18:28,817 --> 00:18:30,694 You know, sponsors and advertisers are reaching out-- 488 00:18:30,777 --> 00:18:32,987 We do have the flexibility to grow. 489 00:18:33,071 --> 00:18:34,864 - So fairly early on, 490 00:18:34,948 --> 00:18:37,242 some cracks started to form, you know, 491 00:18:37,367 --> 00:18:39,577 especially in the relationship between Rus and myself. 492 00:18:39,703 --> 00:18:42,122 But for now, someone thinks I'm dumb. 493 00:18:42,205 --> 00:18:43,957 The guy who owns this app thinks I'm dumb. 494 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,918 Great. The guy who hired me thinks I'm dumb. 495 00:18:47,043 --> 00:18:48,878 I don't think Rus loved the fact 496 00:18:49,004 --> 00:18:53,091 that I was becoming the face of the product he created. 497 00:18:53,216 --> 00:18:54,801 You know, very early on, 498 00:18:54,884 --> 00:18:58,430 we had some awkward interactions over Slack, 499 00:18:58,555 --> 00:19:00,056 in person, over text. 500 00:19:00,181 --> 00:19:01,725 This might be my last show 501 00:19:01,850 --> 00:19:05,061 because my boss thinks I'm dumb, so. 502 00:19:05,186 --> 00:19:07,939 It was nice knowing you, good playing with you. 503 00:19:08,064 --> 00:19:09,190 [sighs] 504 00:19:09,816 --> 00:19:11,776 But we started growing. 505 00:19:12,152 --> 00:19:16,573 [energetic music] - Three, two, one! 506 00:19:16,656 --> 00:19:18,324 ♪ ♪ 507 00:19:18,408 --> 00:19:20,910 - HQ launched in August 2017 508 00:19:21,036 --> 00:19:23,872 with a few hundred people in the first game. 509 00:19:23,955 --> 00:19:26,958 We made it! This is HQ. I'm Scott, the host. 510 00:19:27,083 --> 00:19:29,836 This is a live trivia game that you play from your phone. 511 00:19:29,919 --> 00:19:32,589 Every show had more viewers than the previous show. 512 00:19:32,714 --> 00:19:34,174 We got a long weekend coming up, people, 513 00:19:34,257 --> 00:19:36,134 and there's big money on the table today. 514 00:19:36,259 --> 00:19:37,719 50 bucks! 515 00:19:37,802 --> 00:19:39,888 It was definitely a snowball coming down the mountain. 516 00:19:39,971 --> 00:19:42,307 I'm Scott, your host. We are live. 517 00:19:42,432 --> 00:19:44,059 Looks like we have some people playing right now 518 00:19:44,142 --> 00:19:46,353 from Forest Hills High School in Queens. 519 00:19:46,436 --> 00:19:49,356 [quirky upbeat music] 520 00:19:49,439 --> 00:19:52,275 ♪ ♪ 521 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:54,694 - I had heard about it from some of my students 522 00:19:54,778 --> 00:19:57,238 and rather than try to fight for their attention, 523 00:19:57,322 --> 00:19:59,282 I decided that it would be, maybe, be fun to, 524 00:19:59,407 --> 00:20:00,617 "Well, okay, let's play this. 525 00:20:00,700 --> 00:20:01,951 Let's see what this is all about." 526 00:20:02,035 --> 00:20:03,787 And then we all kinda got hooked on it. 527 00:20:03,912 --> 00:20:05,497 - What school are you representing? 528 00:20:05,622 --> 00:20:07,123 Let me know in the chat there. 529 00:20:07,248 --> 00:20:08,583 - Apart from live sports 530 00:20:08,667 --> 00:20:10,293 or the Oscars or something like that, 531 00:20:10,377 --> 00:20:15,965 there are very few live events that people commune around. 532 00:20:16,091 --> 00:20:17,967 - Now, if you answer this question correctly, madam, 533 00:20:18,093 --> 00:20:19,302 you'll win $50. 534 00:20:19,427 --> 00:20:22,514 - Originally, game shows on radio and television 535 00:20:22,639 --> 00:20:23,932 were broadcasted live... 536 00:20:24,015 --> 00:20:27,435 - Who was the father of our country? 537 00:20:27,519 --> 00:20:29,062 - These were live events. 538 00:20:29,145 --> 00:20:31,272 Is someone gonna answer the $64 question tonight? 539 00:20:31,356 --> 00:20:33,817 - W-Washington? - Right! 540 00:20:33,900 --> 00:20:36,444 Give that lady those 50 crisp dollar bills. 541 00:20:36,528 --> 00:20:38,238 - And those were immensely popular. 542 00:20:38,321 --> 00:20:40,031 - She put everything she had on a horse. 543 00:20:40,156 --> 00:20:41,241 - Lady Godiva. 544 00:20:41,324 --> 00:20:42,575 - Lady Godiva is correct 545 00:20:42,659 --> 00:20:44,327 and you get $64 and congratulations! 546 00:20:44,411 --> 00:20:45,453 [cheers and applause] 547 00:20:45,537 --> 00:20:47,622 - And then we had that leap 548 00:20:47,706 --> 00:20:50,500 from radio to television where what used to be 549 00:20:50,583 --> 00:20:54,170 "The $64 Question" goes on to TV 550 00:20:54,295 --> 00:20:56,256 as "The $64,000 Question." 551 00:20:56,339 --> 00:20:59,342 - Yes, "The $64,000 Question." 552 00:20:59,426 --> 00:21:01,011 - And they were so popular to the point 553 00:21:01,094 --> 00:21:03,179 that almost one quarter of NBC's 554 00:21:03,304 --> 00:21:07,017 broadcasting slate were game shows. 555 00:21:07,142 --> 00:21:10,478 - Look what you can win now! - A new car! 556 00:21:10,562 --> 00:21:11,980 - You're watching what is 557 00:21:12,063 --> 00:21:14,441 more or less a rags-to-riches story. 558 00:21:14,524 --> 00:21:18,028 There's that vicarious thrill that seems to come 559 00:21:18,153 --> 00:21:19,904 from watching someone else 560 00:21:20,030 --> 00:21:23,241 receive a life-changing amount of money instantaneously. 561 00:21:23,366 --> 00:21:25,535 - He just won $1 million! [cheers and applause] 562 00:21:25,660 --> 00:21:29,706 - I think there's also a desire to become a player. 563 00:21:29,831 --> 00:21:33,251 - Ready, Eugene? One, two, three! 564 00:21:33,376 --> 00:21:34,586 Let's--[groans] 565 00:21:34,711 --> 00:21:36,880 [sad horns] 566 00:21:36,963 --> 00:21:40,133 [cheers and applause] [theme music playing] 567 00:21:41,384 --> 00:21:45,138 - My name is Eugene Byon and I've been a huge fan of HQ 568 00:21:45,221 --> 00:21:47,766 for the last, goodness, four, five years. 569 00:21:47,891 --> 00:21:49,476 There's this shirt here, 570 00:21:49,559 --> 00:21:53,730 originally offered on the HQ store, limited edition. 571 00:21:53,855 --> 00:21:55,231 There's this shirt here, 572 00:21:55,357 --> 00:21:57,484 which I got for winning the co-hosting contest 573 00:21:57,567 --> 00:21:59,861 and co-hosting a game of HQ. 574 00:21:59,944 --> 00:22:02,072 Q-umero numero uno! 575 00:22:02,155 --> 00:22:03,907 But there's also--[chuckles] 576 00:22:04,032 --> 00:22:06,743 Oh, yes, this option. 577 00:22:06,826 --> 00:22:09,079 This is the very outfit that I wore on 578 00:22:09,204 --> 00:22:11,956 "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Second Chance Week" 579 00:22:12,082 --> 00:22:13,833 where I won $20,000 and so, 580 00:22:13,917 --> 00:22:16,670 I thought maybe that might be a good option for today. 581 00:22:19,673 --> 00:22:20,965 Oh. 582 00:22:21,091 --> 00:22:22,425 So I've played about 2,000 games. 583 00:22:22,509 --> 00:22:25,804 - ♪ Three, two, one! ♪ 584 00:22:25,929 --> 00:22:27,305 - After I played the first game, 585 00:22:27,430 --> 00:22:30,934 I knew that every time HQ had a game, 586 00:22:31,017 --> 00:22:36,022 I would do everything in my power to play that game. 587 00:22:36,106 --> 00:22:39,526 - Is this your first taste of the HQ Trivia pot pie? 588 00:22:39,609 --> 00:22:40,819 Let me nutshell the rules. 589 00:22:40,944 --> 00:22:42,404 - One of the things that really 590 00:22:42,487 --> 00:22:45,365 set HQ Trivia apart from your traditional TV game show 591 00:22:45,448 --> 00:22:48,284 is the interactive nature of it. 592 00:22:48,368 --> 00:22:50,161 - Did y'all have a nice Thanksgiving? 593 00:22:50,286 --> 00:22:53,123 - Scott Rogowsky is constantly interacting with folks. 594 00:22:53,206 --> 00:22:55,834 There is that sense the host is aware that you're there. 595 00:22:55,917 --> 00:22:58,920 - It's Friday night, the feeling is right. 596 00:22:59,004 --> 00:23:01,172 There's a party going down on the West Side. 597 00:23:01,297 --> 00:23:04,884 - And Scott Rogowsky was incredibly charismatic. 598 00:23:04,968 --> 00:23:07,178 It wasn't, like, "Oh, I'm gonna go play HQ Trivia." 599 00:23:07,303 --> 00:23:09,347 It was also like, "Oh, I gotta watch Scott." 600 00:23:09,472 --> 00:23:11,433 - We've gathered up a bunch of leftover questions, 601 00:23:11,516 --> 00:23:13,393 threw 'em together in the microwave for ya. 602 00:23:13,476 --> 00:23:17,981 JK! We got a fresh batch! Piping hot! Ready to serve. 603 00:23:18,064 --> 00:23:21,276 - Every weird synapse in my brain that would fire off... 604 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:23,278 Freddie Mercury is in retrograde. 605 00:23:23,361 --> 00:23:24,988 Whether it was a "Simpsons" reference 606 00:23:25,113 --> 00:23:27,115 or a Phish lyric-- the band, Phish. 607 00:23:27,198 --> 00:23:28,658 You know, things that I loved. 608 00:23:28,742 --> 00:23:31,119 "Seinfeld," baseball, all these things, 609 00:23:31,202 --> 00:23:33,163 I just kinda, like, put out there. 610 00:23:33,246 --> 00:23:34,622 Say "What up," give me some emojis-- 611 00:23:34,706 --> 00:23:35,957 A lot of it was just improvised 612 00:23:36,041 --> 00:23:37,667 and when you're rolling, you're rolling. 613 00:23:37,751 --> 00:23:39,836 I'm your host with the crab toast, Scott Rogowsky, 614 00:23:39,919 --> 00:23:41,463 AKA "The Woke Woolery." 615 00:23:41,546 --> 00:23:42,464 "Walt Quizney." 616 00:23:42,547 --> 00:23:43,465 "The Semitic Sajak." 617 00:23:43,548 --> 00:23:44,716 "The Quizard of Oz." 618 00:23:44,841 --> 00:23:46,301 "The Great and Powerful Schnoz." 619 00:23:46,384 --> 00:23:47,802 AKA, "The Trap Trebek," AKA, "Regis Trilbin," 620 00:23:47,886 --> 00:23:49,262 "Quiz Markie." "Rupert Pupkin." 621 00:23:49,346 --> 00:23:51,222 - "Edward Quizzerhands." - "The Quiz Daddy." 622 00:23:51,348 --> 00:23:52,307 - "Quiz Daddy." 623 00:23:52,390 --> 00:23:53,850 - "Quiz Daddy." - "Quiz Daddy." 624 00:23:53,933 --> 00:23:54,851 - That's what you thought of, right? 625 00:23:54,934 --> 00:23:56,394 You know, you're like, 626 00:23:56,519 --> 00:23:58,313 "Oh, 9:00 p.m., time to spend time with 'Quiz Daddy.'" 627 00:23:58,396 --> 00:24:01,107 - Shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em! 628 00:24:01,191 --> 00:24:04,027 It became pretty obvious to me fairly quickly, 629 00:24:04,152 --> 00:24:07,030 that there was some professional jealousy 630 00:24:07,155 --> 00:24:10,367 seeping into this dynamic between Rus and myself. 631 00:24:10,450 --> 00:24:12,035 [quirky dramatic music] 632 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,996 I honestly think Rus had some scars from the Vine days 633 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:16,706 and I mean, he created a platform 634 00:24:16,831 --> 00:24:20,335 that allowed all these Viners to become megastars... 635 00:24:20,418 --> 00:24:21,670 [cheers and applause] 636 00:24:21,753 --> 00:24:24,255 And Rus was still fairly anonymous behind the scenes 637 00:24:24,381 --> 00:24:26,216 and here he was, seeing another guy get famous 638 00:24:26,299 --> 00:24:27,926 off another one of his products 639 00:24:28,051 --> 00:24:30,679 and it wasn't sitting too well with him. 640 00:24:30,762 --> 00:24:33,431 I remember him very clearly telling me, 641 00:24:33,556 --> 00:24:35,517 "This is not 'The Scott Rogowsky Show,' 642 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:36,893 you're just a host. 643 00:24:37,018 --> 00:24:38,645 In fact, when this show gets bigger, 644 00:24:38,728 --> 00:24:41,356 I want to get a celebrity host, like Jim Parsons, 645 00:24:41,439 --> 00:24:44,067 you know, maybe Jamie Foxx and this was Rus telling me, like, 646 00:24:44,192 --> 00:24:46,486 "Yeah, you're replaceable. We're gonna replace you." 647 00:24:46,569 --> 00:24:48,488 [dissonant tones] 648 00:24:48,571 --> 00:24:50,407 ♪ ♪ 649 00:24:50,490 --> 00:24:52,784 But I was having fun with the show. 650 00:24:52,909 --> 00:24:54,285 ♪ ♪ 651 00:24:54,411 --> 00:24:56,413 Bah! Pow-pow-pow, pow-pow-pow-pow-pow! 652 00:24:56,496 --> 00:24:57,914 Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya! 653 00:24:58,039 --> 00:24:59,082 You want to get down to the nitty-gritty 654 00:24:59,207 --> 00:25:00,834 and get this show on the road? 655 00:25:00,917 --> 00:25:02,627 - It's a live trivia game that happens twice a day. 656 00:25:02,752 --> 00:25:04,337 - The trivia game show you play on your phone 657 00:25:04,421 --> 00:25:06,172 where you answer questions to win cash. 658 00:25:06,256 --> 00:25:08,091 - It's hosted by the very charming Scott Rogowsky. 659 00:25:08,174 --> 00:25:10,135 - Sit back, relax and let yourself go. 660 00:25:10,260 --> 00:25:12,470 Don't sweat what you heard, act like you know. 661 00:25:12,595 --> 00:25:16,766 It's a tribe called Quiz. May the best brain win! 662 00:25:16,850 --> 00:25:18,685 - Scott is the icon of HQ. 663 00:25:18,768 --> 00:25:19,769 - Yeah, baby! 664 00:25:19,894 --> 00:25:21,271 - Let's go! 665 00:25:21,396 --> 00:25:22,772 - And he's become a magnet for selfies. 666 00:25:22,897 --> 00:25:24,315 - There you go. 667 00:25:24,441 --> 00:25:26,109 - Who's your favorite host? - Scott, definitely. 668 00:25:26,192 --> 00:25:27,777 - He's cool, he's cool. It's fun to watch. 669 00:25:27,902 --> 00:25:29,779 - All my little Rogowsky urban achievers. 670 00:25:29,904 --> 00:25:31,114 - Scott! Scott! 671 00:25:31,197 --> 00:25:34,868 - Oh, my God! [crowd clamoring] 672 00:25:34,951 --> 00:25:38,580 - I'm gonna take a selfie. - I am a god! 673 00:25:38,663 --> 00:25:40,957 [cheering] 674 00:25:42,292 --> 00:25:43,960 - So I write about tech in culture 675 00:25:44,044 --> 00:25:46,212 and I write a lot about kind of the human side of technology 676 00:25:46,296 --> 00:25:47,756 or these kind of culture stories 677 00:25:47,839 --> 00:25:49,799 that are adjacent to the more hard tech stories, 678 00:25:49,924 --> 00:25:51,384 I guess you could say. 679 00:25:51,468 --> 00:25:52,719 - The trivia game show you play on your phone. 680 00:25:52,802 --> 00:25:54,220 - I came across HQ Trivia 681 00:25:54,304 --> 00:25:56,056 kind of like everyone else on the internet. 682 00:25:56,139 --> 00:25:57,974 - You won! - You won! 683 00:25:58,099 --> 00:25:59,726 - People in the newsroom were, like, 684 00:25:59,809 --> 00:26:01,061 meeting at 3:00 to all play. 685 00:26:01,144 --> 00:26:02,812 - Shabbat Shalom, HQ-ties! 686 00:26:02,937 --> 00:26:05,565 I'm your hoost with the moost, Scoot Rogoose. 687 00:26:05,648 --> 00:26:07,442 - The host, Scott Rogowsky, 688 00:26:07,525 --> 00:26:10,862 I had noticed that nobody had done a profile of him, 689 00:26:10,987 --> 00:26:12,489 about this person that, you know, 690 00:26:12,572 --> 00:26:14,657 thousands of people were tuning into every day 691 00:26:14,741 --> 00:26:17,660 and was becoming this beloved cult figure online. 692 00:26:17,744 --> 00:26:21,247 - Warning. Tonight's quiz has two horns. 693 00:26:21,331 --> 00:26:23,541 Are you ready for a quarter of an hour of mirth, 694 00:26:23,667 --> 00:26:24,668 trivia and mayhem? 695 00:26:24,793 --> 00:26:26,920 This was mid-November 2017. 696 00:26:27,003 --> 00:26:28,505 "GQ" wanted to do a shoot, 697 00:26:28,588 --> 00:26:33,343 "Interview" magazine, newspapers and I... 698 00:26:33,426 --> 00:26:36,054 had been dutifully forwarding all these requests to Rus 699 00:26:36,179 --> 00:26:38,306 and everything disappeared. 700 00:26:38,390 --> 00:26:40,183 - I started hitting up Scott on social media. 701 00:26:40,266 --> 00:26:42,352 I noticed that we had some mutual friends on Facebook. 702 00:26:42,435 --> 00:26:44,104 - It was a couple of friends saying, 703 00:26:44,187 --> 00:26:46,856 "Hey, my friend, Taylor, writes for the 'Daily Beast,' 704 00:26:46,981 --> 00:26:48,316 would like to interview you." 705 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,068 I said, "You know what? Screw it. 706 00:26:50,193 --> 00:26:52,987 I'm going to do this for a friend." 707 00:26:53,071 --> 00:26:54,906 - I'm not gonna say it was a puff piece, 708 00:26:55,031 --> 00:26:56,616 but it was a puff piece. 709 00:26:56,700 --> 00:26:58,159 I did, you know, try and see 710 00:26:58,243 --> 00:26:59,703 if there was any kind of controversy around him. 711 00:26:59,786 --> 00:27:00,995 There was nothing. 712 00:27:01,079 --> 00:27:02,455 - I did the interview with Taylor. 713 00:27:02,539 --> 00:27:04,374 Ten minutes on the phone, thought nothing of it. 714 00:27:04,457 --> 00:27:06,793 - The original headline said something about his eyelashes. 715 00:27:06,876 --> 00:27:09,879 Let me go grab the computer. Hold on. It's just right here. 716 00:27:10,005 --> 00:27:14,342 ♪ ♪ 717 00:27:14,426 --> 00:27:17,846 "The next huge app star is a man with great eyelashes 718 00:27:17,929 --> 00:27:19,681 "who lives with his parents. 719 00:27:19,764 --> 00:27:22,183 "Meet Scott, the most beloved host of HQ, 720 00:27:22,267 --> 00:27:24,019 "the live trivia show 721 00:27:24,102 --> 00:27:26,563 "that hundreds of thousands of people tune into every day. 722 00:27:26,646 --> 00:27:29,024 "Fans call him 'Quiz Daddy' and on the few days 723 00:27:29,107 --> 00:27:30,442 "when he doesn't host HQ Trivia, 724 00:27:30,567 --> 00:27:32,402 "people beg for his return. 725 00:27:32,527 --> 00:27:34,779 "'Everyone needs 15 minutes of Scott in their lives,' 726 00:27:34,904 --> 00:27:36,573 "said one fan, recently. 727 00:27:36,698 --> 00:27:38,116 "'If you don't live Scott from HQ, we can't be friends,' 728 00:27:38,241 --> 00:27:39,451 said another." 729 00:27:39,576 --> 00:27:41,327 And then, I continued on in, like, 730 00:27:41,411 --> 00:27:44,497 the nicest piece I've probably ever written about anyone. 731 00:27:44,581 --> 00:27:47,792 I filed my draft and at 6:00 p.m., 732 00:27:47,917 --> 00:27:49,919 an email comes in from Rus. 733 00:27:50,045 --> 00:27:51,463 [dramatic music] 734 00:27:51,588 --> 00:27:53,256 He's like, "This is unauthorized profile. 735 00:27:53,381 --> 00:27:54,841 You can't write this story." 736 00:27:54,924 --> 00:27:56,551 And I'm like, "I'm a journalist 737 00:27:56,634 --> 00:28:00,221 "and we don't need your approval to write stories, 738 00:28:00,305 --> 00:28:03,975 "so, sorry, just let me know if you want to comment. 739 00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:05,977 And feel free to call me." 740 00:28:06,061 --> 00:28:08,438 I get on the phone and Rus starts yelling 741 00:28:08,563 --> 00:28:11,024 and he's pissed and I immediately start 742 00:28:11,107 --> 00:28:14,444 transcribing everything because I'm like, 743 00:28:14,569 --> 00:28:15,945 "This is crazy." 744 00:28:16,071 --> 00:28:17,280 And I also want to make sure that I write down any quotes, 745 00:28:17,405 --> 00:28:18,907 so I'm in my notes app. 746 00:28:18,990 --> 00:28:20,533 It is so hostile. 747 00:28:20,617 --> 00:28:23,661 I mean, yelling at me and saying he was gonna fire Scott 748 00:28:23,787 --> 00:28:29,000 if I ran this profile and I was so taken aback and confused. 749 00:28:29,125 --> 00:28:30,543 Like, this is bizarre. 750 00:28:30,627 --> 00:28:33,838 Like, does he understand how positive this story is? 751 00:28:33,963 --> 00:28:35,465 And I, essentially, 752 00:28:35,590 --> 00:28:37,842 start to read him, kind of, quotes that Scott gave me. 753 00:28:37,967 --> 00:28:40,178 - Taylor had asked me what I eat for lunch before the shows. 754 00:28:40,303 --> 00:28:42,639 I said I like to go to Sweetgreen. 755 00:28:42,764 --> 00:28:45,100 This was the particular part of the interview 756 00:28:45,183 --> 00:28:47,102 that Rus really took exception to. 757 00:28:47,185 --> 00:28:48,978 Rus is like, "He cannot mention Sweetgreen! 758 00:28:49,104 --> 00:28:52,649 We don't have a sponsored relationship with Sweetgreen!" 759 00:28:52,732 --> 00:28:55,985 I'm like, "Well, dude, what are you talking about?" 760 00:28:56,111 --> 00:28:58,738 and he's like--basically, the call is done. 761 00:28:58,822 --> 00:29:01,074 ♪ ♪ 762 00:29:01,157 --> 00:29:02,784 So I rewrite the story 763 00:29:02,867 --> 00:29:06,663 around all of this stuff that happened. 764 00:29:06,788 --> 00:29:10,083 That night, I was having a panic attack. 765 00:29:10,166 --> 00:29:11,626 I could not sleep. [laughs] 766 00:29:11,710 --> 00:29:15,088 I really just remember feeling like, "Oh, my God. 767 00:29:15,171 --> 00:29:17,132 "Being a journalist is too stressful 768 00:29:17,215 --> 00:29:20,802 and I fucked this up," and the next morning, 769 00:29:20,885 --> 00:29:24,389 I get into work and Ben Collins, my editor, 770 00:29:24,514 --> 00:29:27,183 is like, "We need to formally let the company know 771 00:29:27,267 --> 00:29:29,811 "that we are including all of this. 772 00:29:29,894 --> 00:29:32,105 All right, let's go, let's get Rus on the phone." 773 00:29:32,188 --> 00:29:35,275 [suspenseful music] 774 00:29:35,358 --> 00:29:39,529 - So, I'm preparing to do the 3:00. 775 00:29:39,654 --> 00:29:42,699 I'm in the studio. I just put my suit and tie on. 776 00:29:42,782 --> 00:29:44,409 Ten minutes before I'm supposed to go live... 777 00:29:44,534 --> 00:29:47,620 - Rus gets Scott. - Knock on the studio door. 778 00:29:47,704 --> 00:29:51,249 Rus says, "Can you--can you step out?" 779 00:29:51,374 --> 00:29:53,668 ♪ ♪ 780 00:29:53,752 --> 00:29:55,754 We enter a small conference room. 781 00:29:55,879 --> 00:29:57,547 ♪ ♪ 782 00:29:57,630 --> 00:30:00,884 Rus has his phone on speaker. 783 00:30:01,009 --> 00:30:03,386 "I've got the 'Daily Beast' on the line. 784 00:30:03,511 --> 00:30:08,725 "They are telling me that I threatened to fire you. 785 00:30:08,850 --> 00:30:11,686 Why don't you tell 'em that that's not true?" 786 00:30:11,770 --> 00:30:13,897 There was Taylor and her editor. 787 00:30:13,980 --> 00:30:15,357 "Hi, Scott, here. 788 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:17,442 "Yeah, I don't know where you're getting that from, 789 00:30:17,567 --> 00:30:18,777 "that's totally crazy. 790 00:30:18,902 --> 00:30:20,904 "Rus never threatened to fire me. 791 00:30:21,029 --> 00:30:22,489 Never heard that." 792 00:30:22,572 --> 00:30:27,327 - I think that Scott realized that Rus was lying. 793 00:30:27,410 --> 00:30:30,038 - And I look at Rus... 794 00:30:30,121 --> 00:30:34,042 who's looking at me going... 795 00:30:34,125 --> 00:30:37,045 like, "Not true." 796 00:30:37,128 --> 00:30:40,340 - It was so clear that Rus was lying. 797 00:30:40,423 --> 00:30:44,552 - My heart just sunk in that moment. 798 00:30:44,636 --> 00:30:46,304 It was such a shock and, like... 799 00:30:46,429 --> 00:30:47,764 you--you really said this? 800 00:30:47,889 --> 00:30:49,307 You were like, you were gonna fire me? 801 00:30:49,432 --> 00:30:52,394 Like-- I looked at Rus, I was like, 802 00:30:52,477 --> 00:30:56,314 "Listen, man. I gotta host your show, so... 803 00:30:56,439 --> 00:30:57,440 you know, you deal with this" 804 00:30:57,565 --> 00:30:59,109 and I left the conference room 805 00:30:59,234 --> 00:31:01,069 and went back and hosted HQ. 806 00:31:01,152 --> 00:31:03,863 - ♪ Three, two, one! ♪ 807 00:31:03,947 --> 00:31:07,492 I hope your socks are securely fastened, 808 00:31:07,617 --> 00:31:09,035 because we're about to knock 'em off 809 00:31:09,119 --> 00:31:10,704 in another game of HQ-- 810 00:31:10,787 --> 00:31:12,414 20 minutes later when the show ended, 811 00:31:12,497 --> 00:31:14,874 I step outside, the story had been published. 812 00:31:14,958 --> 00:31:18,670 - It blew up. - And shit hit the fan. 813 00:31:18,795 --> 00:31:25,010 ♪ ♪ 814 00:31:25,135 --> 00:31:27,846 - The headline that we ran was something like, 815 00:31:27,971 --> 00:31:29,431 "HQ Trivia Founder: 816 00:31:29,514 --> 00:31:32,976 If You Run This Article, I'll Fire The Host." 817 00:31:33,059 --> 00:31:35,645 Which Ben wrote. Genius headline. 818 00:31:35,729 --> 00:31:38,606 ♪ ♪ 819 00:31:38,690 --> 00:31:40,316 I was at my desk-- [laughs] 820 00:31:40,442 --> 00:31:45,572 On Twitter, glued for, like, hours, like, refreshing, 821 00:31:45,655 --> 00:31:48,992 and other journalists were like, "Holy shit." 822 00:31:49,117 --> 00:31:51,995 - This became a whole scandal of its own. 823 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:53,496 All this media coverage, 824 00:31:53,621 --> 00:31:56,499 laughing about how sensitive this founder was. 825 00:31:56,624 --> 00:31:58,835 - Hashtag "Free Scott" was trending. 826 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,004 I mean, people thought that I was being held captive, 827 00:32:01,087 --> 00:32:03,840 that I couldn't eat at certain places without permission. 828 00:32:03,923 --> 00:32:06,217 It kind of--you know, the internet went wild with it. 829 00:32:06,343 --> 00:32:08,428 ♪ ♪ 830 00:32:08,511 --> 00:32:10,805 - When the Sweetgreen article dropped, 831 00:32:10,889 --> 00:32:12,682 Rus was on the phone, like, in the middle of the office. 832 00:32:12,766 --> 00:32:16,686 Kind of like a PR, like, crisis control situation. 833 00:32:16,770 --> 00:32:17,687 [laughs] 834 00:32:17,771 --> 00:32:18,980 ♪ ♪ 835 00:32:19,064 --> 00:32:22,359 - Rus called me that night and he said, 836 00:32:22,442 --> 00:32:25,612 "This is what we're gonna do." 837 00:32:25,695 --> 00:32:28,907 - After the story came out, Rus took Scott 838 00:32:29,032 --> 00:32:32,869 on, like, a date to Sweetgreen, to, like, ease things over. 839 00:32:32,952 --> 00:32:36,706 - And then, I see that Rus has actually tweeted 840 00:32:36,831 --> 00:32:41,878 something like, "Who's an out of touch startup founder? Me." 841 00:32:42,003 --> 00:32:44,756 Like, basically, "Sorry about all that." 842 00:32:44,881 --> 00:32:48,802 And I did think that was, like, masterful PR response. 843 00:32:48,885 --> 00:32:53,056 It deescalated tensions but it also made it, 844 00:32:53,181 --> 00:32:54,974 like, ten times more viral. 845 00:32:55,058 --> 00:32:57,977 [quirky upbeat music] 846 00:32:58,061 --> 00:33:01,564 ♪ ♪ 847 00:33:01,690 --> 00:33:05,068 - I was on vacation and I called Scott up 848 00:33:05,151 --> 00:33:07,821 and I said, "Did Rus do this on purpose?" 849 00:33:07,904 --> 00:33:09,572 'Cause I was thinking, you know, 850 00:33:09,656 --> 00:33:11,574 there's no such thing as bad press. 851 00:33:11,658 --> 00:33:13,076 This is gonna be great for us. 852 00:33:13,201 --> 00:33:15,912 - That's when the hockey stick accelerated. 853 00:33:16,037 --> 00:33:17,747 ♪ ♪ 854 00:33:17,872 --> 00:33:19,833 - HQ Trivia was everywhere. 855 00:33:19,916 --> 00:33:23,586 - It is that time once again. The quizzing hour is upon us. 856 00:33:23,670 --> 00:33:25,922 People played it on the subway... 857 00:33:26,006 --> 00:33:27,257 Oh, HQ-nicorn! 858 00:33:27,340 --> 00:33:28,383 At home, at work. 859 00:33:28,466 --> 00:33:29,759 - No! - In the bar. 860 00:33:29,884 --> 00:33:31,845 - Three winners, baby! - HQ winners! 861 00:33:31,928 --> 00:33:33,263 [all cheering] 862 00:33:33,388 --> 00:33:35,473 - I remember going to an Astros game. 863 00:33:35,557 --> 00:33:37,726 I whipped out my phone and started playing. 864 00:33:37,809 --> 00:33:39,853 - Greeting you on this late autumn day. 865 00:33:39,936 --> 00:33:41,646 It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. 866 00:33:41,771 --> 00:33:44,733 - You could see how many people were watching, 867 00:33:44,816 --> 00:33:48,445 which made it cool, too, because as the company grew... 868 00:33:48,528 --> 00:33:49,904 [cheering] 869 00:33:49,988 --> 00:33:52,323 We would get more excited about the viewership. 870 00:33:52,449 --> 00:33:53,908 - The media requests started coming in. 871 00:33:53,992 --> 00:33:55,744 - And it's the FOMO element, the fear of missing out, 872 00:33:55,827 --> 00:33:57,245 that's so prevalent in society now. 873 00:33:57,328 --> 00:33:58,788 We were doing talk shows. 874 00:33:58,872 --> 00:34:00,248 I was doing "Good Morning America," 875 00:34:00,331 --> 00:34:02,292 "The Today, Show," Colbert. 876 00:34:02,417 --> 00:34:04,002 - Are we in the Matrix right now? 877 00:34:04,127 --> 00:34:06,629 - All of this is science fic-- no, but I liken it 878 00:34:06,713 --> 00:34:08,673 to the Wright Brothers building the first airplane. 879 00:34:08,798 --> 00:34:10,300 I mean, they-- - What? 880 00:34:10,383 --> 00:34:13,261 - Yeah! [laughter] 881 00:34:13,345 --> 00:34:14,929 [peaceful music] 882 00:34:15,013 --> 00:34:16,348 - Thank you. 883 00:34:16,473 --> 00:34:18,808 What's your racket, kids? Now, come clean now. 884 00:34:18,933 --> 00:34:20,727 Are you one of the extortion mob? 885 00:34:20,810 --> 00:34:23,021 - It's exciting when people are excited about game shows. 886 00:34:23,146 --> 00:34:25,398 - Do you mind kissing any of these people? 887 00:34:25,482 --> 00:34:27,150 - Oh, I wouldn't mind, for a change. 888 00:34:27,233 --> 00:34:28,526 [laughter] 889 00:34:28,651 --> 00:34:29,944 - There's nothing else like it. 890 00:34:30,028 --> 00:34:31,654 - Now, do you wish to select a category? 891 00:34:31,738 --> 00:34:32,989 - It's not the same thing as live sports. 892 00:34:33,114 --> 00:34:34,616 It's not the same thing 893 00:34:34,699 --> 00:34:37,410 as watching some kind of stunt performance. 894 00:34:37,494 --> 00:34:39,120 It's a unique kind of pleasure. 895 00:34:39,204 --> 00:34:42,749 - With $100 a week, every week for the entire year! 896 00:34:42,832 --> 00:34:44,292 - The game shows that we remember 897 00:34:44,376 --> 00:34:46,002 are the ones that run for a long time. 898 00:34:46,086 --> 00:34:49,047 - The host of "Jeopardy," Alex Trebek! 899 00:34:49,172 --> 00:34:51,341 - "Jeopardy," "Wheel of Fortune," 900 00:34:51,424 --> 00:34:52,342 "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." 901 00:34:52,425 --> 00:34:53,593 - He's won $1 million! 902 00:34:53,677 --> 00:34:55,178 [cheers and applause] 903 00:34:55,261 --> 00:34:56,638 - There are plenty of other game shows... 904 00:34:56,721 --> 00:34:58,014 - Hello, and welcome to "Star Face"! 905 00:34:58,098 --> 00:34:59,599 - That most people barely remember. 906 00:34:59,683 --> 00:35:02,560 - I'm putting $5,000 of my money on the line. 907 00:35:02,686 --> 00:35:04,020 - They seem to be chasing something 908 00:35:04,104 --> 00:35:06,564 that could become the next "Millionaire." 909 00:35:06,690 --> 00:35:08,191 - Final answer? - Yes. 910 00:35:08,316 --> 00:35:10,235 - They're looking to find their unique twists 911 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,862 in that formula and capture people's imagination... 912 00:35:12,987 --> 00:35:14,531 - Shaggy and Scooby Doo. - Whoa! 913 00:35:14,656 --> 00:35:16,866 - And HQ was able to scratch that itch... 914 00:35:16,991 --> 00:35:18,368 - You won, Nan! 915 00:35:18,451 --> 00:35:19,786 - In a unique way that it hadn't happened before. 916 00:35:19,869 --> 00:35:21,538 - You won! Well done! 917 00:35:21,663 --> 00:35:23,540 [cheering] 918 00:35:23,665 --> 00:35:26,876 - HQ was both just a game and also an attempt to, 919 00:35:27,002 --> 00:35:29,170 you know, revolutionize television. 920 00:35:29,254 --> 00:35:30,547 [upbeat music] 921 00:35:30,630 --> 00:35:32,549 Do I have anything in my teeth? 922 00:35:32,674 --> 00:35:34,926 I'm Drew Patterson and I was an investor 923 00:35:35,051 --> 00:35:38,221 and advisor and consultant to HQ Trivia. 924 00:35:38,304 --> 00:35:41,474 Colin and Rus had different and complementary 925 00:35:41,558 --> 00:35:42,517 kinds of skill sets. 926 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:43,768 ♪ ♪ 927 00:35:43,893 --> 00:35:45,562 They met at Jetsetter. 928 00:35:45,645 --> 00:35:47,313 - My next guest, Drew Patterson-- 929 00:35:47,397 --> 00:35:49,065 - I was the founder and the CEO 930 00:35:49,190 --> 00:35:51,317 and we had a great time together. 931 00:35:51,401 --> 00:35:54,904 Lots of late nights. Beers afterwards. 932 00:35:54,988 --> 00:35:57,407 Those kinds of experiences created lots of camaraderie 933 00:35:57,490 --> 00:35:59,534 and deep relationships and friendships. 934 00:35:59,617 --> 00:36:00,618 ♪ ♪ 935 00:36:00,744 --> 00:36:02,162 Colin's an introvert. 936 00:36:02,245 --> 00:36:04,414 You know, I suppose, maybe I am, as well, 937 00:36:04,497 --> 00:36:06,958 and so we connected around that. 938 00:36:07,042 --> 00:36:08,251 Rus, you know, 939 00:36:08,376 --> 00:36:10,128 I had a professional relationship with, 940 00:36:10,253 --> 00:36:11,546 but we weren't friends 941 00:36:11,629 --> 00:36:12,547 in the way that Colin and I are friends. 942 00:36:12,630 --> 00:36:13,923 ♪ ♪ 943 00:36:14,007 --> 00:36:16,259 Colin was a world-class engineer. 944 00:36:16,384 --> 00:36:18,094 You're looking at what HQ had to accomplish, 945 00:36:18,219 --> 00:36:19,471 Colin was one of the few people 946 00:36:19,596 --> 00:36:21,097 in the world able to do that. 947 00:36:21,222 --> 00:36:22,766 - Yeah, we'd definitely like to connect you closer 948 00:36:22,849 --> 00:36:24,434 with the people that you know in the game. 949 00:36:24,559 --> 00:36:26,394 And then, I mean, Rus was an incredibly talented designer. 950 00:36:26,478 --> 00:36:28,021 - With HQ Trivia, 951 00:36:28,104 --> 00:36:30,482 both Colin and Rus started as just co-founders. 952 00:36:30,565 --> 00:36:33,109 Eventually, Colin fell into the role 953 00:36:33,234 --> 00:36:35,111 of the Chief Technology Officer 954 00:36:35,195 --> 00:36:37,781 and, effectively, Rus started to be the COO, 955 00:36:37,864 --> 00:36:40,116 the Chief Operating Officer. 956 00:36:40,241 --> 00:36:42,452 But the problem was that they were both 957 00:36:42,535 --> 00:36:45,246 kind of competing to be the CEO, 958 00:36:45,330 --> 00:36:46,664 the face of the company, 959 00:36:46,790 --> 00:36:48,708 the one who controlled the money. 960 00:36:48,792 --> 00:36:51,002 [tense music] 961 00:36:51,127 --> 00:36:53,046 - Colin had very clear ideas 962 00:36:53,129 --> 00:36:55,715 about what he wanted to create in the world 963 00:36:55,799 --> 00:36:59,469 and his ambition was to reshape culture. 964 00:36:59,552 --> 00:37:00,970 [chuckles] Right? 965 00:37:01,054 --> 00:37:02,430 Like, to build the next version of television. 966 00:37:02,514 --> 00:37:03,848 That's a gargantuan undertaking. 967 00:37:03,973 --> 00:37:05,350 And so I think he felt the pressure 968 00:37:05,475 --> 00:37:07,644 to try to live up to that. 969 00:37:07,727 --> 00:37:09,020 ♪ ♪ 970 00:37:09,145 --> 00:37:12,607 He was an awesome collaborator. 971 00:37:12,691 --> 00:37:14,359 He was also really challenging. 972 00:37:14,484 --> 00:37:17,237 I mean, it was not a picnic to work with Colin. 973 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,072 He had strong ideas, 974 00:37:19,155 --> 00:37:22,367 he was not shy about sharing his ideas. 975 00:37:22,492 --> 00:37:25,954 He drove the people who worked for him incredibly hard 976 00:37:26,037 --> 00:37:28,540 and, you know, he didn't suffer fools. 977 00:37:28,665 --> 00:37:31,793 Uh--uh... [chuckles] 978 00:37:31,876 --> 00:37:34,504 He's a total pain in the ass. 979 00:37:34,629 --> 00:37:37,340 [sniffles and clears throat] 980 00:37:37,424 --> 00:37:40,343 [soft dramatic music] 981 00:37:40,427 --> 00:37:47,642 ♪ ♪ 982 00:37:50,687 --> 00:37:52,355 - Yeah. 983 00:37:52,439 --> 00:37:53,648 [clears throat] 984 00:38:00,238 --> 00:38:02,782 ♪ ♪ 985 00:38:02,866 --> 00:38:04,492 Why don't we-- why don't we grab lunch 986 00:38:04,576 --> 00:38:05,702 and we can do this after lunch? 987 00:38:05,827 --> 00:38:07,328 - Perfect. Okay, let's cut. 988 00:38:08,329 --> 00:38:09,205 [horn honks] 989 00:38:09,330 --> 00:38:12,208 [suspenseful music] 990 00:38:12,334 --> 00:38:14,294 ♪ ♪ 991 00:38:14,377 --> 00:38:15,920 - Prince Harry officially engaged 992 00:38:16,046 --> 00:38:17,756 to American actress, Meghan Markle. 993 00:38:17,881 --> 00:38:19,382 - We now know, though, 994 00:38:19,507 --> 00:38:21,343 they actually got engaged earlier this month. 995 00:38:21,426 --> 00:38:22,469 The Queen's delighted, 996 00:38:22,552 --> 00:38:23,762 Prince Charles is delighted, 997 00:38:23,887 --> 00:38:24,888 Prince William's very excited-- 998 00:38:24,971 --> 00:38:26,473 - HQ Trivia, you know, 999 00:38:26,556 --> 00:38:28,183 had gotten all this, like, positive attention, right? 1000 00:38:28,266 --> 00:38:29,851 But it was clear that if they wanted to build 1001 00:38:29,934 --> 00:38:32,312 and realize their dream, they needed more money. 1002 00:38:32,395 --> 00:38:35,065 - Looking to raise more money? - If it's right, sure. 1003 00:38:35,148 --> 00:38:38,360 - As a startup, you need capital to grow the company. 1004 00:38:38,443 --> 00:38:39,736 You need engineers. 1005 00:38:39,861 --> 00:38:41,071 In the case of HQ, you need prize money. 1006 00:38:41,154 --> 00:38:44,949 - Today's jackpot: $1,000. 1007 00:38:45,033 --> 00:38:46,534 $5,000. 1008 00:38:46,618 --> 00:38:47,660 ♪ ♪ 1009 00:38:47,744 --> 00:38:48,661 50,000! 1010 00:38:48,745 --> 00:38:49,746 $100,000! 1011 00:38:49,871 --> 00:38:51,247 You can actually buy love 1012 00:38:51,331 --> 00:38:52,832 and happiness with that kinda dough. 1013 00:38:52,916 --> 00:38:54,626 - So, clearly, they were fund-raising... 1014 00:38:54,751 --> 00:38:57,587 but it was clear that, like, something was stalling that 1015 00:38:57,671 --> 00:38:59,839 and this report comes out... 1016 00:38:59,923 --> 00:39:01,966 which answered the question of, like, 1017 00:39:02,092 --> 00:39:05,303 "Why haven't they raised more money yet?" 1018 00:39:05,428 --> 00:39:07,430 ♪ ♪ 1019 00:39:07,514 --> 00:39:10,809 - What I wanted to do was break news about 1020 00:39:10,934 --> 00:39:13,770 who was investing in this really buzzy startup 1021 00:39:13,853 --> 00:39:15,438 called HQ Trivia, 1022 00:39:15,522 --> 00:39:18,650 and I kept getting a version of the same answer back, 1023 00:39:18,775 --> 00:39:23,113 which was, "Super interested, but we have our reservations." 1024 00:39:23,196 --> 00:39:25,407 ♪ ♪ 1025 00:39:25,490 --> 00:39:28,618 And what I learned was that Rus and Colin 1026 00:39:28,702 --> 00:39:33,498 had a reputation from their time at Vine and Twitter 1027 00:39:33,623 --> 00:39:35,250 that was catching up to them. 1028 00:39:35,333 --> 00:39:37,210 ♪ ♪ 1029 00:39:37,293 --> 00:39:41,464 - There were rumors of bad management by Colin at Twitter, 1030 00:39:41,589 --> 00:39:43,091 but nobody was really sure 1031 00:39:43,174 --> 00:39:45,343 if it had strayed into something more serious 1032 00:39:45,427 --> 00:39:47,554 until this article came out. 1033 00:39:47,637 --> 00:39:50,348 - I spoke to over a dozen former colleagues 1034 00:39:50,473 --> 00:39:52,434 and employees and the experiences they had 1035 00:39:52,517 --> 00:39:53,685 were not positive. 1036 00:39:53,810 --> 00:39:55,729 Colin would show up late to work, 1037 00:39:55,812 --> 00:39:57,313 hungover, disheveled, 1038 00:39:57,397 --> 00:40:00,316 he was kind of verbally aggressive towards people. 1039 00:40:00,442 --> 00:40:03,236 - And what Kurt wrote is that he was fired for being 1040 00:40:03,319 --> 00:40:06,740 a "bad manager", but in addition to that, 1041 00:40:06,823 --> 00:40:08,867 there were female employees at Twitter 1042 00:40:08,992 --> 00:40:11,453 that spoke out that Colin made them uncomfortable. 1043 00:40:11,536 --> 00:40:15,999 Kurt describes "creepy" behavior towards women. 1044 00:40:16,082 --> 00:40:18,209 - He would maybe make a joke or he would talk 1045 00:40:18,335 --> 00:40:21,796 about something that happened over the weekend in a way that, 1046 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:25,300 especially to his female colleagues, 1047 00:40:25,383 --> 00:40:26,509 it made them feel weird. 1048 00:40:26,593 --> 00:40:28,928 [soft dramatic chords] 1049 00:40:29,012 --> 00:40:30,764 - I thought the "Recode" article, 1050 00:40:30,847 --> 00:40:32,390 it played into a cultural moment, right? 1051 00:40:32,515 --> 00:40:34,142 And it was easy to read the story in a certain way. 1052 00:40:34,225 --> 00:40:35,810 You know, it was the height of MeToo. 1053 00:40:35,894 --> 00:40:38,188 - The MeToo movement growing this morning. 1054 00:40:38,271 --> 00:40:41,608 Millions of women sharing their own stories online-- 1055 00:40:41,691 --> 00:40:43,777 - All these bad things were happening in tech. 1056 00:40:43,860 --> 00:40:45,320 There was sexism, 1057 00:40:45,403 --> 00:40:47,697 there was not a meritocracy like they promised. 1058 00:40:47,781 --> 00:40:50,116 There were new types of harassment. 1059 00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:51,951 There was a moment where it was 1060 00:40:52,035 --> 00:40:54,704 just like article upon article upon article. 1061 00:40:55,538 --> 00:40:58,166 - Suddenly, there was a reckoning around bad behavior 1062 00:40:58,249 --> 00:41:00,210 by men, sexual politics in the workplace that, 1063 00:41:00,335 --> 00:41:02,629 you know, really had not been reckoned with and it-- 1064 00:41:02,712 --> 00:41:04,506 like, long overdue reckoning. 1065 00:41:05,340 --> 00:41:07,467 Unfortunately, I think Colin got caught up in that. 1066 00:41:07,550 --> 00:41:09,219 - Colin Kroll, 1067 00:41:09,302 --> 00:41:11,388 whose behavior was described as "creepy at times", 1068 00:41:11,471 --> 00:41:12,472 also, "egregious." 1069 00:41:12,555 --> 00:41:13,890 According to Rico, though, 1070 00:41:14,015 --> 00:41:15,225 it doesn't appear formal complaints 1071 00:41:15,308 --> 00:41:16,893 were actually filed against him. 1072 00:41:16,976 --> 00:41:20,980 - That, as far as I know, was not why he was fired. 1073 00:41:21,064 --> 00:41:23,650 He was fired because he wasn't doing a good job 1074 00:41:23,733 --> 00:41:25,443 managing the staff, 1075 00:41:25,568 --> 00:41:30,031 but Colin's behavior and his history mattered 1076 00:41:30,115 --> 00:41:33,034 because it was now directly impacting 1077 00:41:33,118 --> 00:41:34,619 his current business. 1078 00:41:34,744 --> 00:41:39,082 [dramatic music] 1079 00:41:39,207 --> 00:41:40,583 - Colin pulled me into the phone room 1080 00:41:40,709 --> 00:41:42,252 and asked if he could chat with me and he said, 1081 00:41:42,377 --> 00:41:45,171 "This article talks about me having a... 1082 00:41:45,255 --> 00:41:47,257 "unprofessional relationship with somebody, 1083 00:41:47,382 --> 00:41:50,802 "and I wanted to share my side of the story with you 1084 00:41:50,885 --> 00:41:53,221 and I want you to feel comfortable here." 1085 00:42:08,570 --> 00:42:09,863 - In Silicon Valley, 1086 00:42:09,946 --> 00:42:11,948 you have a lot of young people, 1087 00:42:12,073 --> 00:42:14,117 young, white men managing big teams 1088 00:42:14,242 --> 00:42:15,869 that are growing really quickly. 1089 00:42:17,912 --> 00:42:19,622 There's a lot of ego, 1090 00:42:19,706 --> 00:42:22,292 you have "Move fast and break things" mentality. 1091 00:42:22,417 --> 00:42:25,337 You work long hours, you code, you don't take off. 1092 00:42:25,462 --> 00:42:27,964 You can't show any sign of weakness. 1093 00:42:29,424 --> 00:42:31,217 - It all goes into this myth of 1094 00:42:31,301 --> 00:42:33,803 "the Silicon Valley founder", right? 1095 00:42:33,887 --> 00:42:35,638 Think of the Steve Jobs model. 1096 00:42:35,722 --> 00:42:37,474 You know, to be a true creative genius, 1097 00:42:37,557 --> 00:42:39,976 yeah, you're gonna hurt some feelings. 1098 00:42:40,060 --> 00:42:41,353 Your underlings are gonna fear you, 1099 00:42:41,478 --> 00:42:43,146 but that's good, that's what it takes 1100 00:42:43,229 --> 00:42:45,315 and as we know now, that's not what it takes. 1101 00:42:45,398 --> 00:42:48,318 In fact, it actually usually hinders innovation 1102 00:42:48,443 --> 00:42:50,111 because people don't feel comfortable, 1103 00:42:50,195 --> 00:42:52,197 you lose talent, and you end up 1104 00:42:52,322 --> 00:42:54,866 building a very non-inclusive workspace. 1105 00:42:57,077 --> 00:42:58,370 - When I got there, like, 1106 00:42:58,495 --> 00:43:00,622 it was definitely kind of a boys' club. 1107 00:43:00,705 --> 00:43:03,458 I would come in in the morning and there might be, 1108 00:43:03,541 --> 00:43:05,251 like, you know, beer cans 1109 00:43:05,335 --> 00:43:07,337 that they had left behind from the night before 1110 00:43:07,462 --> 00:43:09,381 that I was like, "I guess I'm cleaning this up". 1111 00:43:09,506 --> 00:43:11,841 Or, like, "Rachel, like, we need more coffee! 1112 00:43:11,966 --> 00:43:13,176 Like, can you make some?" You know? 1113 00:43:13,301 --> 00:43:15,095 I'm like, "Can't you?" [laughs] 1114 00:43:16,971 --> 00:43:18,181 I never really spoke up. 1115 00:43:18,306 --> 00:43:21,142 Probably because I felt insecure. 1116 00:43:21,226 --> 00:43:24,896 Um...I was young, you know? 1117 00:43:25,021 --> 00:43:29,025 I was very young and... and... 1118 00:43:29,109 --> 00:43:30,735 I think, inherently, like, as women, 1119 00:43:30,860 --> 00:43:34,280 we are afraid to speak up, especially young women. 1120 00:43:34,364 --> 00:43:37,409 [soft, uneasy music] 1121 00:43:37,534 --> 00:43:39,703 - Rus and Colin had built a hit, 1122 00:43:39,828 --> 00:43:41,496 and this report comes out. 1123 00:43:41,579 --> 00:43:44,541 It just was like, "Oh, gosh, is this it?" 1124 00:43:44,666 --> 00:43:46,376 You know, like, "Is this-- 1125 00:43:46,459 --> 00:43:49,045 who wants to invest in the company now?" 1126 00:43:49,129 --> 00:43:53,258 [soft, edgy music] 1127 00:43:53,383 --> 00:43:54,843 - There was a lot of speculation 1128 00:43:54,926 --> 00:43:59,806 around why this article came out when it did. 1129 00:43:59,889 --> 00:44:02,559 The instance they were to be talking about were years prior, 1130 00:44:02,684 --> 00:44:04,227 when he was at Twitter. 1131 00:44:04,310 --> 00:44:05,979 Why is this coming out now, 1132 00:44:06,062 --> 00:44:08,273 right when the fund-raise is happening, right when... 1133 00:44:08,398 --> 00:44:11,234 they're figuring out who's gonna run the company? 1134 00:44:13,194 --> 00:44:15,280 As co-founders, you can run things 1135 00:44:15,405 --> 00:44:18,283 pretty loosely in the beginning... 1136 00:44:18,408 --> 00:44:22,120 but once other investors start coming on board... 1137 00:44:22,203 --> 00:44:24,706 you have to sort of formalize things and, well... 1138 00:44:24,789 --> 00:44:26,416 [small laugh] 1139 00:44:26,499 --> 00:44:28,877 if there are allegations of creepy behavior 1140 00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:31,755 on one of these guys, 1141 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:33,590 it's probably best if the other founder 1142 00:44:33,673 --> 00:44:35,967 leads the company now... 1143 00:44:36,092 --> 00:44:39,637 and Colin believed that, you know, 1144 00:44:39,763 --> 00:44:43,433 Rus was involved in this story getting out there. 1145 00:44:58,114 --> 00:44:59,616 - When you have a lack of trust 1146 00:44:59,699 --> 00:45:01,993 between the two people running the company, 1147 00:45:02,118 --> 00:45:03,578 it leads to chaos, 1148 00:45:03,661 --> 00:45:06,581 especially if you're raising money at the time. 1149 00:45:06,664 --> 00:45:09,334 A lot of folks are irrational, there's a lot ego, 1150 00:45:09,459 --> 00:45:11,378 there are all of these moves, the power moves, 1151 00:45:11,461 --> 00:45:13,797 there's a lot of money changing hands. 1152 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:15,674 So I think you probably had a lot of dynamics 1153 00:45:15,799 --> 00:45:17,801 happening at the time that were, I think, 1154 00:45:17,884 --> 00:45:20,136 probably really toxic. 1155 00:45:20,261 --> 00:45:22,305 - I knew from, like, my second day, 1156 00:45:22,389 --> 00:45:25,100 that Colin and Rus didn't see eye to eye. 1157 00:45:25,642 --> 00:45:28,520 That was forementioned to my start 1158 00:45:28,645 --> 00:45:33,650 so that I could be well acclimated in the role. 1159 00:45:33,733 --> 00:45:36,778 They needed a third party to sit in with them 1160 00:45:36,861 --> 00:45:39,614 when they had meetings to delegate a conversation 1161 00:45:39,698 --> 00:45:42,075 between the two of them, unfortunately. 1162 00:45:42,158 --> 00:45:43,576 - You know, it was a weird thing 1163 00:45:43,660 --> 00:45:45,537 'cause you're co-founders, you'd think you do start 1164 00:45:45,662 --> 00:45:48,123 these things with your friends... 1165 00:45:48,206 --> 00:45:50,750 but they didn't seem like friends. 1166 00:45:52,002 --> 00:45:54,337 - They had been collaborators for so long, 1167 00:45:54,462 --> 00:45:55,797 I think they both knew 1168 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,383 that they were better together than apart. 1169 00:45:58,508 --> 00:46:01,469 But maybe it wasn't a perfect relationship. 1170 00:46:01,553 --> 00:46:04,347 - There was a public reaction to the article. 1171 00:46:06,349 --> 00:46:07,851 It certainly caught some attention, 1172 00:46:07,934 --> 00:46:09,144 at least in the tech world. 1173 00:46:11,021 --> 00:46:12,814 - When you're a company and you're growing really fast 1174 00:46:12,897 --> 00:46:15,442 and things on the outside seem like they're going great, 1175 00:46:15,525 --> 00:46:18,445 it's really hard to take that step back and say, like, 1176 00:46:18,528 --> 00:46:20,363 "We've got to work on our relationship." 1177 00:46:20,447 --> 00:46:23,033 - Rus, as far as I know, felt sort of betrayed. 1178 00:46:23,116 --> 00:46:25,493 Like, "Hey, you're putting our company in a tough spot 1179 00:46:25,577 --> 00:46:28,455 from your past behavior, and I wasn't aware of that." 1180 00:46:28,538 --> 00:46:31,249 At least, that was the idea that was kind of portrayed. 1181 00:46:31,374 --> 00:46:33,001 - After that story came out, 1182 00:46:33,084 --> 00:46:36,629 I asked the question of "Who's gonna invest in HQ?" 1183 00:46:36,713 --> 00:46:40,717 The answer ended up being the Founders Fund. 1184 00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:44,971 - They invested $15 million at a $100 million valuation, 1185 00:46:45,055 --> 00:46:46,389 thinking that this company 1186 00:46:46,514 --> 00:46:48,058 is gonna make at least $100 million 1187 00:46:48,183 --> 00:46:49,851 when it sells or IPOs one day. 1188 00:46:49,934 --> 00:46:51,895 - Good evening! - Founders Fund... 1189 00:46:51,978 --> 00:46:53,021 - I'm Peter Thiel. 1190 00:46:53,104 --> 00:46:54,272 - Was Peter Thiel's fund, 1191 00:46:54,397 --> 00:46:55,357 early backer of Facebook. 1192 00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:56,775 - I build companies 1193 00:46:56,900 --> 00:46:57,901 and I support people 1194 00:46:57,984 --> 00:46:59,319 who are building new things, 1195 00:46:59,402 --> 00:47:01,363 from social networks to rocket ships. 1196 00:47:01,446 --> 00:47:02,947 [cheers and applause] 1197 00:47:03,073 --> 00:47:07,160 - He had also just been the only major tech investor 1198 00:47:07,243 --> 00:47:08,620 to back Donald Trump 1199 00:47:08,745 --> 00:47:11,081 in the 2016 presidential election. 1200 00:47:12,082 --> 00:47:14,250 Peter Thiel kind of put a stake in the ground 1201 00:47:14,334 --> 00:47:15,919 in the tech world as saying, 1202 00:47:16,044 --> 00:47:18,213 I'm not gonna shy away from something 1203 00:47:18,296 --> 00:47:19,673 that I think is good business 1204 00:47:19,756 --> 00:47:22,759 because it might have a checkered past... 1205 00:47:22,884 --> 00:47:25,804 and so, Cyan Banister, one of the partners, 1206 00:47:25,887 --> 00:47:27,389 was going to join the board. 1207 00:47:27,472 --> 00:47:28,807 - I've invested in companies in my career 1208 00:47:28,932 --> 00:47:31,059 such as Uber, SpaceX, Postmates... 1209 00:47:31,142 --> 00:47:32,644 - And she was known for being 1210 00:47:32,769 --> 00:47:34,604 an incredible friend to founders 1211 00:47:34,729 --> 00:47:36,815 and actually working with them in the trenches. 1212 00:47:36,940 --> 00:47:39,651 - And Founders Fund's whole... managing principle is that 1213 00:47:39,776 --> 00:47:43,196 "We don't get in the way of founders." 1214 00:47:43,279 --> 00:47:46,199 Rus knows he's gonna have free rein 1215 00:47:46,282 --> 00:47:48,952 with Founders Fund's money... 1216 00:47:49,077 --> 00:47:50,286 and "Colin, you just go back 1217 00:47:50,412 --> 00:47:51,788 "and you keep coding and engineering 1218 00:47:51,913 --> 00:47:53,707 "and keep this game up and running... 1219 00:47:53,790 --> 00:47:58,044 and Rus will be the CEO and take all the glory." 1220 00:47:58,128 --> 00:48:00,422 That's the way I read it. 1221 00:48:00,505 --> 00:48:02,882 [percussive music] 1222 00:48:02,966 --> 00:48:04,634 You can go back to every article, 1223 00:48:04,718 --> 00:48:06,720 every interview with Rus. "What's the future of HQ?" 1224 00:48:06,803 --> 00:48:09,597 Rus' whole thing was, "I wanna give away a million dollars." 1225 00:48:09,681 --> 00:48:11,182 - Well, we'd love to give away a million dollars. 1226 00:48:11,266 --> 00:48:12,809 We'd love to give away a million dollars. 1227 00:48:12,934 --> 00:48:15,311 Can we give away a million dollars one day? I think so. 1228 00:48:15,437 --> 00:48:18,231 I think Rus is, in the best sense of the word, 1229 00:48:18,314 --> 00:48:20,150 a showman. 1230 00:48:20,233 --> 00:48:21,651 - I'm Rus Yusupov, 1231 00:48:21,735 --> 00:48:24,320 the CEO and co-founder of HQ Trivia. 1232 00:48:24,404 --> 00:48:25,989 - Interested in creating spectacle. 1233 00:48:26,114 --> 00:48:27,782 - With viewers in more than 80 countries. 1234 00:48:27,866 --> 00:48:29,409 - The bigger the spectacle, the better. 1235 00:48:29,492 --> 00:48:31,036 - Well, I'm back here at the NFL Tailgate, 1236 00:48:31,161 --> 00:48:33,455 joined by the man at the center of the craziest obsession 1237 00:48:33,538 --> 00:48:34,873 sweeping our nation right now. 1238 00:48:34,998 --> 00:48:36,750 - We had a Super Bowl commercial. 1239 00:48:36,833 --> 00:48:38,626 People dressed as me for Halloween. 1240 00:48:38,710 --> 00:48:41,546 - We're making things extra awesome tonight on HQ... 1241 00:48:41,671 --> 00:48:43,965 - We were nominated for an Emmy award. 1242 00:48:44,049 --> 00:48:45,342 [audience chanting] 1243 00:48:45,467 --> 00:48:46,843 3,000 high schoolers 1244 00:48:46,968 --> 00:48:48,345 screaming for me. 1245 00:48:48,470 --> 00:48:49,679 - It's been soaring in popularity. 1246 00:48:49,763 --> 00:48:51,264 Sometimes more than a million people 1247 00:48:51,348 --> 00:48:52,724 play it at the same time. 1248 00:48:52,849 --> 00:48:55,852 - With all one million plus of you-- 1249 00:48:55,935 --> 00:48:58,772 [punchy music] 1250 00:48:58,855 --> 00:49:02,650 - ♪ Four-four, three, two, one... ♪ 1251 00:49:02,734 --> 00:49:04,235 - Jimmy Kimmel, in fact... 1252 00:49:04,361 --> 00:49:05,320 - Wow, we got two! - We got two right! 1253 00:49:05,403 --> 00:49:06,696 - Loved it so much, 1254 00:49:06,821 --> 00:49:08,448 he finagled his way into guest hosting. 1255 00:49:08,531 --> 00:49:10,825 - I'm here because Scott doesn't love you anymore 1256 00:49:10,909 --> 00:49:12,035 and, to be honest, 1257 00:49:12,118 --> 00:49:13,787 I don't know that he ever really did, 1258 00:49:13,870 --> 00:49:16,581 so let's try to forget about him right now. 1259 00:49:16,706 --> 00:49:18,500 - I think the celebrities, for me... 1260 00:49:18,583 --> 00:49:19,834 - Awkwafina! - Oh, yeah, hi. 1261 00:49:19,918 --> 00:49:21,586 - Made me think, "Wow, this is big." 1262 00:49:21,711 --> 00:49:23,463 - "These expensive, these is red bottoms, 1263 00:49:23,546 --> 00:49:25,048 these is bloody shoes!" 1264 00:49:25,173 --> 00:49:26,549 - Success begets success. 1265 00:49:26,675 --> 00:49:28,259 - I don't want to do math! - 100 thou-- 1266 00:49:28,385 --> 00:49:30,053 - As the size of the audience grows... 1267 00:49:30,178 --> 00:49:31,721 - Hug me. Oh! There he is! 1268 00:49:31,846 --> 00:49:33,598 - What's up? AKA, your boy, Ice Cube. 1269 00:49:33,723 --> 00:49:35,350 - You know, that makes it easier 1270 00:49:35,433 --> 00:49:36,976 to bring in higher profile celebrities. 1271 00:49:37,060 --> 00:49:38,937 - HQ is live. - HQ is always live. 1272 00:49:39,062 --> 00:49:40,397 - I remember when The Rock was on there. 1273 00:49:40,522 --> 00:49:41,523 - The Rock hosting. 1274 00:49:41,606 --> 00:49:43,108 - Maybe I can give you 1275 00:49:43,233 --> 00:49:44,442 some pointers? How 'bout that? - Yeah, okay. 1276 00:49:44,567 --> 00:49:45,443 I would love some pointers. 1277 00:49:45,568 --> 00:49:47,112 - Russ knows how to 1278 00:49:47,237 --> 00:49:48,571 craft a narrative that breaks through the media, 1279 00:49:48,697 --> 00:49:50,407 that gets people excited, 1280 00:49:50,490 --> 00:49:52,033 that gives them something to talk about. 1281 00:49:52,117 --> 00:49:54,244 - The Rock tweeted you should catch him on HQ. 1282 00:49:54,327 --> 00:49:56,621 - Cheers to HQ Trivia. We're gonna have a blast 1283 00:49:56,746 --> 00:49:59,290 tomorrow--$300,000. 1284 00:49:59,416 --> 00:50:01,584 - That ended up being... 1285 00:50:01,668 --> 00:50:03,795 two million people plus. 1286 00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:07,549 [background noise, indistinct chatter] 1287 00:50:07,632 --> 00:50:10,510 - The morale in the office was really, really high. 1288 00:50:10,593 --> 00:50:11,636 - Can we get some mustard for Danny DeVito 1289 00:50:11,761 --> 00:50:13,096 for cryin' out loud? 1290 00:50:13,221 --> 00:50:14,848 - Danny DeVito, he was asking the engineers 1291 00:50:14,931 --> 00:50:17,684 all these questions about how HQ worked. 1292 00:50:17,767 --> 00:50:21,104 - We were hiring engineers, writers, 1293 00:50:21,229 --> 00:50:24,190 and they had moved into a new office. 1294 00:50:24,274 --> 00:50:26,609 [applause] 1295 00:50:26,693 --> 00:50:29,446 It just felt like we were rapidly expanding. 1296 00:50:29,571 --> 00:50:31,156 - That's a wrap, Scott. This is live, Scott. 1297 00:50:31,281 --> 00:50:32,449 Go with it. 1298 00:50:32,532 --> 00:50:35,243 [folksy music] 1299 00:50:35,326 --> 00:50:38,455 - Russ was building international markets, 1300 00:50:38,538 --> 00:50:40,457 launching a German HQ. 1301 00:50:40,540 --> 00:50:43,585 - [speaking in German] 1302 00:50:43,668 --> 00:50:46,087 - An Australia HQ. - So just think of me 1303 00:50:46,171 --> 00:50:47,672 as your little Australian Dumbledore. 1304 00:50:47,797 --> 00:50:49,799 - A UK HQ... - I'm Shazza Carpenter, 1305 00:50:49,924 --> 00:50:52,927 your quality quizzer, and this is HQ Trivia. 1306 00:50:53,553 --> 00:50:54,846 - Russ came to me, he said, 1307 00:50:54,971 --> 00:50:57,140 "Sharon I see you in 'Cosmopolitan,' 1308 00:50:57,223 --> 00:51:00,143 I see you on the cover of this magazine, this newspaper," 1309 00:51:00,268 --> 00:51:01,811 and I'm thinking okay, Russ, 1310 00:51:01,895 --> 00:51:03,730 like calm down a little bit, I don't know, 1311 00:51:03,813 --> 00:51:06,483 is it really gonna be like that? 1312 00:51:07,192 --> 00:51:08,234 But you know what? 1313 00:51:08,318 --> 00:51:10,612 He was absolutely right. 1314 00:51:10,695 --> 00:51:12,989 I've been involved with a lot of different shows, 1315 00:51:13,114 --> 00:51:17,827 big networks, but I had never seen this level of fandom. 1316 00:51:17,911 --> 00:51:19,996 [crowd cheering, screaming] 1317 00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:21,581 - Damn, H-cuties! 1318 00:51:21,664 --> 00:51:24,042 We're back at it again. 1319 00:51:24,167 --> 00:51:25,752 - In my wildest dreams, 1320 00:51:25,835 --> 00:51:27,504 I never thought for a second... 1321 00:51:27,629 --> 00:51:29,381 [all screaming] 1322 00:51:29,506 --> 00:51:32,175 HQ would become this huge. 1323 00:51:34,177 --> 00:51:38,306 To see the game grow in a matter of months 1324 00:51:38,390 --> 00:51:41,643 to 2.3 million live players... 1325 00:51:41,726 --> 00:51:43,269 - What a crazy game, guys. 1326 00:51:43,353 --> 00:51:44,813 - Was just mind-blowing. 1327 00:51:44,896 --> 00:51:47,857 - We started with 2.3 million--a record. 1328 00:51:47,941 --> 00:51:49,442 And we're gonna come back 1329 00:51:49,526 --> 00:51:50,819 and try to do it again tomorrow. 1330 00:51:50,902 --> 00:51:53,029 Yeah, that's right. Tomorrow. 1331 00:51:54,864 --> 00:51:56,783 - The turnout was like too good for us 1332 00:51:56,866 --> 00:51:59,619 because what Colin had explained as, you know, 1333 00:51:59,703 --> 00:52:02,122 the engineering mind behind the whole process 1334 00:52:02,205 --> 00:52:04,916 is you want it to slowly build 1335 00:52:05,041 --> 00:52:08,086 because the app is not ready to work 1336 00:52:08,169 --> 00:52:09,504 with too many people on it. 1337 00:52:09,587 --> 00:52:11,506 - Colin had a sense of like 1338 00:52:11,589 --> 00:52:12,924 we're not going in the right direction. 1339 00:52:13,049 --> 00:52:14,509 This party isn't gonna end well. 1340 00:52:14,592 --> 00:52:16,553 It can't just be more bigger prizes 1341 00:52:16,678 --> 00:52:18,972 and a bigger and bigger spectacle. 1342 00:52:19,055 --> 00:52:22,642 The company needs to be more than just those things, 1343 00:52:22,726 --> 00:52:27,439 and I think he's frustrated that, you know, 1344 00:52:27,564 --> 00:52:31,359 Russ wasn't, um... attuned to that. 1345 00:52:31,443 --> 00:52:33,319 [exciting music] 1346 00:52:33,403 --> 00:52:35,572 - We are back live. We are in Times Square. 1347 00:52:35,655 --> 00:52:38,450 Midnight is almost here. 1348 00:52:38,575 --> 00:52:39,993 - Okay, listen, I love games 1349 00:52:40,076 --> 00:52:41,745 and there's this live model trivia game 1350 00:52:41,828 --> 00:52:43,830 that has taken American by storm. 1351 00:52:43,913 --> 00:52:45,790 Hi Scott. - Hi Jenny. 1352 00:52:45,874 --> 00:52:47,834 HQ Trivia is the only live game show you play on your phone. 1353 00:52:47,917 --> 00:52:49,461 - Oh my God, I wanna play. 1354 00:52:49,586 --> 00:52:51,671 - Okay, who has never hosted "New Year's Rockin' Eve"-- 1355 00:52:51,755 --> 00:52:53,923 Jimmy Kimmel, Regis Philbin, or George Carlin? 1356 00:52:54,049 --> 00:52:55,842 The plan was we go live at midnight, 1357 00:52:55,925 --> 00:52:57,844 this will be our big New Year's Eve show. 1358 00:52:57,927 --> 00:52:59,387 - I know this one. - It was the most money 1359 00:52:59,471 --> 00:53:00,805 we'd ever given out. Ry, what's your answer? 1360 00:53:00,930 --> 00:53:02,432 - I would say Kimmel. 1361 00:53:02,557 --> 00:53:04,809 - I was up in Times Square... Ryan is our big winner! 1362 00:53:04,934 --> 00:53:06,519 Had to do the promo... - Thank you so much. 1363 00:53:06,603 --> 00:53:08,480 - Thank you, happy New Year, in the car, 1364 00:53:08,605 --> 00:53:12,108 down to the studio in Soho, rush and get in there you know, 1365 00:53:12,233 --> 00:53:14,986 five minutes to midnight, we're ready. 1366 00:53:15,111 --> 00:53:16,780 And we go live. 1367 00:53:16,863 --> 00:53:18,782 Can you believe this year's over already? 1368 00:53:18,907 --> 00:53:23,161 I feel like it's only been 365 days and 26-- 1369 00:53:23,286 --> 00:53:26,206 And it crashes. 1370 00:53:27,207 --> 00:53:28,667 I don't know, I think they might have expected 1371 00:53:28,792 --> 00:53:30,502 maybe 500,000, and a million showed up 1372 00:53:30,627 --> 00:53:32,796 and the whole thing just, you know... 1373 00:53:32,879 --> 00:53:34,172 - You have had some glitches. 1374 00:53:34,297 --> 00:53:35,882 Some users have complained about that. 1375 00:53:35,965 --> 00:53:38,134 - We are going through some growing pains. 1376 00:53:38,218 --> 00:53:39,636 - What are we doing about the glitches? 1377 00:53:39,719 --> 00:53:41,346 - Right, well... - It's frustrating, Rus, 1378 00:53:41,471 --> 00:53:42,597 the glitches. 1379 00:53:42,681 --> 00:53:45,809 [overlapping yelling] 1380 00:53:45,892 --> 00:53:50,855 - Glitches in HQ appeared in many different forms. 1381 00:53:50,980 --> 00:53:54,651 The freezing, sudden disconnection from the game. 1382 00:53:54,776 --> 00:53:58,905 - What is the prime-- [garbled speech] 1383 00:53:58,988 --> 00:54:01,491 - An error message that would appear on the screen. 1384 00:54:01,574 --> 00:54:03,243 [laughs] 1385 00:54:03,326 --> 00:54:05,245 - People would always like meme Scott Rogowsky's face 1386 00:54:05,328 --> 00:54:06,454 all like muddled up. 1387 00:54:06,538 --> 00:54:07,914 - It just got so popular 1388 00:54:07,997 --> 00:54:09,624 and that might be a part of the reason 1389 00:54:09,708 --> 00:54:10,834 why the game was always crashing. 1390 00:54:10,917 --> 00:54:12,168 - Would you believe it? 1391 00:54:12,252 --> 00:54:13,712 - Once it got popular, it seemed like 1392 00:54:13,837 --> 00:54:16,214 we weren't able to add any new features. 1393 00:54:16,339 --> 00:54:18,383 All the engineers had to immediately switch 1394 00:54:18,508 --> 00:54:19,718 over to fixing all the problems, 1395 00:54:19,843 --> 00:54:21,678 rather than figuring out 1396 00:54:21,803 --> 00:54:24,639 how to put new features into the game. 1397 00:54:24,723 --> 00:54:26,683 - Colin was just focusing on 1398 00:54:26,766 --> 00:54:28,309 making sure the servers didn't break down. 1399 00:54:28,393 --> 00:54:30,812 Like making sure the technical side of the app worked. 1400 00:54:30,895 --> 00:54:33,106 And so everything else was really on Rus. 1401 00:54:33,189 --> 00:54:35,525 - Our engineering team, every day 1402 00:54:35,608 --> 00:54:37,652 they're working on making the servers better 1403 00:54:37,736 --> 00:54:40,321 and more reliable, and the focus really is 1404 00:54:40,405 --> 00:54:42,657 on delivering the best possible experience. 1405 00:54:45,493 --> 00:54:49,205 - Aah! 1406 00:54:53,043 --> 00:54:56,755 Oh, my God! Oh, my God! 1407 00:54:56,880 --> 00:55:00,383 [overlapping chatter] Oh, my God! 1408 00:55:00,508 --> 00:55:03,386 I won $11.30. 1409 00:55:03,511 --> 00:55:05,013 I won $11! 1410 00:55:05,096 --> 00:55:07,140 I don't remember the questions, except for the last one. 1411 00:55:07,223 --> 00:55:09,059 - The final question of the day... 1412 00:55:09,184 --> 00:55:12,562 - Who composed the startup music for Windows 95? 1413 00:55:12,645 --> 00:55:16,566 The answer was... 1414 00:55:16,649 --> 00:55:18,693 wait, now I can't even remember. 1415 00:55:23,239 --> 00:55:24,491 Oh my God. 1416 00:55:24,574 --> 00:55:26,659 [chime] Roxy Music. 1417 00:55:26,743 --> 00:55:28,203 Which is what I guessed. 1418 00:55:28,286 --> 00:55:31,664 - And you got some winners, baby, yeah! 1419 00:55:31,748 --> 00:55:33,375 177 of ya. 1420 00:55:33,458 --> 00:55:35,794 - I just really couldn't believe it. 1421 00:55:35,919 --> 00:55:37,796 I was in shock. 1422 00:55:37,921 --> 00:55:40,215 And my friends Tweeted the clip 1423 00:55:40,298 --> 00:55:42,050 @ScottRogowsky. 1424 00:55:46,721 --> 00:55:48,682 And I basically, like, was the internet. 1425 00:55:48,765 --> 00:55:51,267 - This woman's response to an $11 win 1426 00:55:51,351 --> 00:55:53,478 has gone viral. 1427 00:55:53,603 --> 00:55:56,439 - Joy there from Lauren May. Worth every action. 1428 00:55:56,523 --> 00:55:59,484 - People I hadn't talked to since elementary school, 1429 00:55:59,609 --> 00:56:01,945 reaching out to say like hi. 1430 00:56:02,070 --> 00:56:03,738 - So many people are jealous. 1431 00:56:03,822 --> 00:56:05,490 They'd love to be that excited about anything in their life. 1432 00:56:05,573 --> 00:56:07,075 - I wasn't this version of myself 1433 00:56:07,158 --> 00:56:10,120 that I was super proud of. but then... 1434 00:56:10,245 --> 00:56:12,288 - From San Francisco, California, 1435 00:56:12,414 --> 00:56:14,124 please welcome Lauren May. 1436 00:56:15,583 --> 00:56:17,794 I was like okay, well, if I can get to the "Ellen" show 1437 00:56:17,919 --> 00:56:19,713 after all this, it will have been worth it. 1438 00:56:19,796 --> 00:56:22,424 - Okay, so $11.30? - Correct. 1439 00:56:22,507 --> 00:56:23,883 - Did you spend the money yet? 1440 00:56:23,967 --> 00:56:25,343 - Well, so I learned 1441 00:56:25,468 --> 00:56:28,138 after I became viral the most comment-- 1442 00:56:28,221 --> 00:56:29,806 I try not to read the comments 1443 00:56:29,931 --> 00:56:31,641 'cause, you know, people tell you not to do that, 1444 00:56:31,725 --> 00:56:33,143 but a lot of the comments were saying girl 1445 00:56:33,226 --> 00:56:35,311 you don't even know you can't get that money. 1446 00:56:35,395 --> 00:56:37,022 People were saying this poor girl 1447 00:56:37,147 --> 00:56:40,150 doesn't even know she's not gonna get $11. 1448 00:56:40,275 --> 00:56:42,944 Like after all's said and done, she actually gets nothing. 1449 00:56:43,028 --> 00:56:44,863 You actually can't cash out of HQ 1450 00:56:44,988 --> 00:56:47,991 until you have $20, which I don't have. 1451 00:56:48,116 --> 00:56:50,702 I am currently sitting on a whopping nothing. 1452 00:56:50,827 --> 00:56:52,245 - Oh no. 1453 00:56:52,328 --> 00:56:53,496 - You can't cash out 1454 00:56:53,621 --> 00:56:55,373 till you win $20 and then you only have 90 days. 1455 00:56:55,498 --> 00:56:56,791 Why--why that complexity? 1456 00:56:56,875 --> 00:56:58,168 - People are winning. 1457 00:56:58,251 --> 00:57:00,003 It is it is an attainable prize. 1458 00:57:00,128 --> 00:57:02,589 Lauren May in that reaction video, she was ecstatic 1459 00:57:02,672 --> 00:57:04,132 and it goes to show 1460 00:57:04,215 --> 00:57:06,051 that this is really not so much about the money, 1461 00:57:06,176 --> 00:57:08,845 it's about the thirst for knowledge and... 1462 00:57:08,928 --> 00:57:10,180 - Rus made some comment about, 1463 00:57:10,305 --> 00:57:13,224 "And people like Lauren, they're so excited 1464 00:57:13,350 --> 00:57:16,019 it's not even about the money." 1465 00:57:16,144 --> 00:57:20,231 Which is true, but I also got to go on "Ellen." 1466 00:57:20,357 --> 00:57:22,275 Most people who weren't able to cash out 1467 00:57:22,359 --> 00:57:26,196 didn't also get this incredible thing that happened to them. 1468 00:57:26,279 --> 00:57:30,867 And I could see how they would like their $11.30. 1469 00:57:33,536 --> 00:57:36,039 - The way technology firms approach their operations 1470 00:57:36,164 --> 00:57:39,167 is ready, fire, aim. 1471 00:57:42,128 --> 00:57:44,047 And if there's a little collateral damage, 1472 00:57:44,172 --> 00:57:46,383 you know, so be it. 1473 00:57:48,468 --> 00:57:50,553 If you in fact can communicate or cement 1474 00:57:50,679 --> 00:57:52,389 the perception that you're growing faster 1475 00:57:52,514 --> 00:57:56,309 than anyone in your category, you attract more capital, 1476 00:57:56,393 --> 00:58:00,105 financial and human capital, which creates more growth 1477 00:58:00,230 --> 00:58:02,315 which creates more capital, more value, 1478 00:58:02,399 --> 00:58:04,442 and you start that upward spiral. 1479 00:58:05,276 --> 00:58:07,570 - Do it one more time, do it one more time. 1480 00:58:07,696 --> 00:58:09,239 [gong echoes] 1481 00:58:09,364 --> 00:58:11,408 - Million of you live in the game. 1482 00:58:11,491 --> 00:58:13,702 - We had a milestone of getting a million players in the game 1483 00:58:13,785 --> 00:58:15,120 and then we had a milestone 1484 00:58:15,245 --> 00:58:16,621 of getting two million players in the game. 1485 00:58:16,746 --> 00:58:18,415 - Two million plus of you. 1486 00:58:18,498 --> 00:58:22,585 - So to get to three million was the next milestone. 1487 00:58:24,754 --> 00:58:28,091 Rus bought a giant champagne bottle. 1488 00:58:28,216 --> 00:58:31,469 - It was probably like at least half my body length. 1489 00:58:31,594 --> 00:58:32,971 - And he had a sign that said you know, 1490 00:58:33,096 --> 00:58:34,764 break in case of three million. 1491 00:58:34,889 --> 00:58:37,100 And we just expect that we get there the next week. 1492 00:58:37,225 --> 00:58:39,019 I mean, this is this is the hubris, 1493 00:58:39,102 --> 00:58:41,980 this is the... 1494 00:58:42,105 --> 00:58:44,774 this is the great symbol of the Greek tragedy 1495 00:58:44,858 --> 00:58:49,612 that is HQ is this, you know, magnum bottle of champagne. 1496 00:58:49,696 --> 00:58:52,282 - We have over 1.5 million of you now, live. 1497 00:58:52,365 --> 00:58:54,617 1.9 million players still watching. 1498 00:58:54,743 --> 00:58:56,327 2.3 million--a record! 1499 00:58:56,453 --> 00:58:58,913 We know that you can have too much of a good thing. 1500 00:58:58,997 --> 00:59:01,207 - HQ Trivia. - HQ Trivia. 1501 00:59:01,291 --> 00:59:02,709 - Do you think you're going 1502 00:59:02,792 --> 00:59:04,294 to put Jeopardy! out of business? 1503 00:59:04,419 --> 00:59:07,255 - And tonight, a trivia sensation, HQ... 1504 00:59:07,339 --> 00:59:10,258 - I mean if you went to a Michelin star restaurant 1505 00:59:10,342 --> 00:59:12,177 every night, had a five-course meal 1506 00:59:12,302 --> 00:59:14,054 by the best chef in the world... 1507 00:59:14,137 --> 00:59:16,222 It's Monday night! It is Tuesday. 1508 00:59:16,306 --> 00:59:18,183 It is Wednesday. Thanksgiving is Thursday. 1509 00:59:18,308 --> 00:59:20,310 Friday night...Saturday. Happy Sunday. 1510 00:59:20,393 --> 00:59:21,895 Eventually you'd get sick of it. 1511 00:59:21,978 --> 00:59:23,730 - What day is it? 1512 00:59:23,813 --> 00:59:25,523 - Monday. It's Monday. 1513 00:59:30,195 --> 00:59:33,656 - I would not say that a majority of HQ players 1514 00:59:33,782 --> 00:59:35,200 are game show fans. 1515 00:59:35,325 --> 00:59:39,120 So because of that, boredom can quickly set in. 1516 00:59:42,665 --> 00:59:45,669 I started seeing those signs myself 1517 00:59:45,752 --> 00:59:50,173 from interacting with other HQ users on social media. 1518 00:59:50,298 --> 00:59:52,008 People starting to express 1519 00:59:52,092 --> 00:59:54,844 that they're getting bored of the game. 1520 00:59:54,928 --> 00:59:58,515 - There was a few other apps that had very similar premise. 1521 00:59:58,598 --> 01:00:02,018 - The Q prides itself on its ability to go live anywhere. 1522 01:00:02,102 --> 01:00:03,436 - And we would watch and be like this 1523 01:00:03,520 --> 01:00:05,146 is not as good as HQ, you know. 1524 01:00:05,230 --> 01:00:07,065 - [speaking language] 1525 01:00:07,190 --> 01:00:08,775 - Question number one: 1526 01:00:08,858 --> 01:00:12,862 - You had HQ imitators coming out of India and Thailand. 1527 01:00:12,987 --> 01:00:14,447 - The question on everyone's mind 1528 01:00:14,531 --> 01:00:17,951 was when will Facebook copy this and they did. 1529 01:00:18,034 --> 01:00:19,369 - Welcome to "Confetti." 1530 01:00:19,494 --> 01:00:20,829 I'm gonna ask you 13 questions. 1531 01:00:20,912 --> 01:00:22,080 They get harder as we go. 1532 01:00:22,205 --> 01:00:25,041 Let's get ready to confetti! 1533 01:00:26,668 --> 01:00:28,712 - I mean, every company and every CEO faces the same thing, 1534 01:00:28,837 --> 01:00:32,215 like the hardest thing is coming up with a good idea. 1535 01:00:32,298 --> 01:00:34,384 The next hardest thing is protecting it. 1536 01:00:34,509 --> 01:00:37,137 A lot of companies continually innovate, right? 1537 01:00:37,220 --> 01:00:39,472 The next iPhone will be better than this one. 1538 01:00:39,556 --> 01:00:41,558 That's the challenge that every company faces 1539 01:00:41,683 --> 01:00:43,935 from a consumer who constantly asks one question, 1540 01:00:44,019 --> 01:00:46,604 that is what have you done for me lately? 1541 01:00:46,730 --> 01:00:48,064 - Say cheese! 1542 01:00:48,189 --> 01:00:50,358 Hello, H-cuties! Happy Monday. 1543 01:00:50,442 --> 01:00:54,070 HQ is, you know, really hitting the peak, 1544 01:00:54,154 --> 01:00:56,531 that's when the numbers started declining 1545 01:00:56,614 --> 01:00:58,742 and that's when the cracks started showing. 1546 01:01:00,243 --> 01:01:03,163 April, you know, it started to go down. 1547 01:01:03,246 --> 01:01:05,248 May, really started to go down. 1548 01:01:05,331 --> 01:01:07,125 The penultimate question, Elmo-- 1549 01:01:07,250 --> 01:01:09,044 know what that means? - No. 1550 01:01:09,127 --> 01:01:12,255 - July to August, seeing us start to drop below a million. 1551 01:01:12,380 --> 01:01:15,216 - I dunno! We did lose about half of you there. 1552 01:01:15,300 --> 01:01:17,802 - Yeah, looking at the top right and seeing 999. 1553 01:01:17,927 --> 01:01:19,679 I'm like, hmm, okay. 1554 01:01:19,763 --> 01:01:21,723 - 600,000! 400,000! 1555 01:01:21,806 --> 01:01:23,767 300,000! 1556 01:01:23,850 --> 01:01:25,477 - How do you regain that peak moment 1557 01:01:25,602 --> 01:01:27,354 and do you need to regain that moment? 1558 01:01:27,437 --> 01:01:29,022 - What we're proud of is that 1559 01:01:29,105 --> 01:01:30,940 we're able to maintain this core community 1560 01:01:31,024 --> 01:01:32,525 and core player base 1561 01:01:32,609 --> 01:01:35,862 that engages by the hundreds of thousands every day. 1562 01:01:35,945 --> 01:01:38,615 - A million people is a sexy number. 1563 01:01:38,698 --> 01:01:42,327 That's what enabled HQ to get those $15 million 1564 01:01:42,452 --> 01:01:44,496 in brand deals and ads sold. 1565 01:01:44,621 --> 01:01:47,415 You don't get those deals if numbers are going down. 1566 01:01:47,499 --> 01:01:50,377 - Yeah, I know, everyone's kinda on vacation. 1567 01:01:50,460 --> 01:01:52,962 You're here, you're doing it. 1568 01:01:53,088 --> 01:01:54,756 We're doin' it. We're doin' it up. 1569 01:01:54,839 --> 01:01:56,174 We're doin' it up right! 1570 01:01:56,299 --> 01:02:01,388 - Ughh...it was frustrating and-and also like 1571 01:02:01,471 --> 01:02:03,932 just basically like trying to figure out what-- 1572 01:02:04,015 --> 01:02:05,600 where is it going wrong? 1573 01:02:05,684 --> 01:02:09,187 - This is really not what I was not expecting. 1574 01:02:09,312 --> 01:02:10,939 - Yeah, I mean so I think the obvious thing 1575 01:02:11,022 --> 01:02:12,774 that Rus could've tried... 1576 01:02:12,857 --> 01:02:14,651 - Things that would've nice if it had come our earlier. 1577 01:02:14,776 --> 01:02:17,028 - What if they did, I don't know, just pop culture trivia? 1578 01:02:17,153 --> 01:02:19,698 - New game play elements. - Geography. 1579 01:02:19,823 --> 01:02:22,534 - Points that roll over that accumulate on a leader board 1580 01:02:22,659 --> 01:02:24,327 or a profile. - Make it so you can still 1581 01:02:24,411 --> 01:02:26,371 answer questions after you got outta the game. 1582 01:02:26,496 --> 01:02:27,831 - There's no shortage of ideas, 1583 01:02:27,956 --> 01:02:29,666 there were brilliant people working at HQ 1584 01:02:29,791 --> 01:02:32,335 but they couldn't get their work done. 1585 01:02:32,460 --> 01:02:35,255 They could not execute because Rus wasn't allowing them to. 1586 01:02:35,338 --> 01:02:36,923 You know, every time someone had an idea 1587 01:02:37,007 --> 01:02:38,842 or a thing let's try this, no. 1588 01:02:40,010 --> 01:02:43,221 - Rus was afraid of tampering with the formula. 1589 01:02:52,564 --> 01:02:55,358 - You all know, of course, The Dab, 1590 01:02:55,442 --> 01:02:57,193 the dance move featuring a raised arm. 1591 01:02:57,277 --> 01:02:59,863 Rappers, football players, even Hillary Clinton Dab. 1592 01:02:59,988 --> 01:03:01,656 - Now we're talkin'. 1593 01:03:01,740 --> 01:03:03,408 - Things were really breaking down behind the scenes 1594 01:03:03,533 --> 01:03:05,869 and a lot of it stemmed from this divide 1595 01:03:05,952 --> 01:03:09,539 between Rus and Colin into what kind of company this was. 1596 01:03:10,540 --> 01:03:12,292 - Rus and Colin did have different visions 1597 01:03:12,375 --> 01:03:13,793 for the company. 1598 01:03:13,877 --> 01:03:16,629 Rus was all about blowing up HQ Trivia 1599 01:03:16,713 --> 01:03:20,383 into massive thing, right, like let's get bigger prizes, 1600 01:03:20,508 --> 01:03:22,761 let's get bigger celebrities to host 1601 01:03:22,844 --> 01:03:24,554 and that's the future of HQ, 1602 01:03:24,679 --> 01:03:28,224 we're gonna build this into a massive show. 1603 01:03:28,350 --> 01:03:30,226 - If we can get millions of people 1604 01:03:30,352 --> 01:03:34,647 to engage for 15 minutes, 7 days a week, 1605 01:03:34,731 --> 01:03:37,859 that that's-hat's incredibly powerful. 1606 01:03:37,942 --> 01:03:40,487 - And my understanding from Colin was 1607 01:03:40,570 --> 01:03:42,072 we need to build a platform 1608 01:03:42,197 --> 01:03:44,699 with a number of different game shows going. 1609 01:03:44,783 --> 01:03:47,744 We're not gonna put all of our eggs in in one basket. 1610 01:03:47,869 --> 01:03:52,165 And that was a pretty dramatic difference of opinion 1611 01:03:52,248 --> 01:03:53,583 at that stage of the company 1612 01:03:53,667 --> 01:03:55,251 because you only have so much money. 1613 01:03:55,335 --> 01:03:59,422 You can choose to try and support the main game 1614 01:03:59,547 --> 01:04:01,383 or you can chose to try and build new games, 1615 01:04:01,466 --> 01:04:03,176 but you can't really do both. 1616 01:04:09,265 --> 01:04:11,685 [uneasy music] 1617 01:04:11,768 --> 01:04:13,436 [laughter] 1618 01:04:13,520 --> 01:04:17,273 - Nothing was getting done. I mean, HQ was this patient 1619 01:04:17,399 --> 01:04:18,942 on the operating table bleeding out 1620 01:04:19,025 --> 01:04:20,944 and there's two doctors standing over the body 1621 01:04:21,027 --> 01:04:23,071 arguing with each other, and the patient's dying. 1622 01:04:23,154 --> 01:04:24,948 We were in a total stasis 1623 01:04:25,031 --> 01:04:28,118 and at the same time hemorrhaging followers. 1624 01:04:28,201 --> 01:04:31,037 - It's a small office so people are talking to each other. 1625 01:04:31,121 --> 01:04:33,456 They're worried, right, like is this going to exist, 1626 01:04:33,581 --> 01:04:35,542 am I going to have a job? 1627 01:04:35,625 --> 01:04:37,836 - I was living, breathing, and sleeping HQ 1628 01:04:37,961 --> 01:04:39,337 literally to the point 1629 01:04:39,462 --> 01:04:42,132 where I was not sleeping because of HQ. 1630 01:04:42,215 --> 01:04:46,302 [somber music] 1631 01:04:46,386 --> 01:04:50,390 I mean someone had to, you know, raise the alarm here. 1632 01:04:51,599 --> 01:04:54,728 And that ended up being me. 1633 01:04:55,645 --> 01:04:58,314 That's when I called the board members 1634 01:04:58,398 --> 01:05:00,066 and the main investors. 1635 01:05:01,067 --> 01:05:04,446 - The board, which is small, there's only four people 1636 01:05:04,529 --> 01:05:08,324 including both co-founders, starts talking, 1637 01:05:08,450 --> 01:05:12,203 hey should Colin be the CEO instead of Rus? 1638 01:05:14,330 --> 01:05:16,750 - Colin as CEO, 1639 01:05:16,833 --> 01:05:19,169 and for us it was anyone but Colin. 1640 01:05:19,294 --> 01:05:23,173 ♪ ♪ 1641 01:05:23,298 --> 01:05:26,217 - Shortly, if not immediately after, the conversation, 1642 01:05:26,343 --> 01:05:31,056 I got a tip that there had been a formal complaint filed 1643 01:05:31,181 --> 01:05:33,683 by an HQ employee. 1644 01:05:34,768 --> 01:05:38,521 - This woman had a complaint against Colin. 1645 01:05:38,646 --> 01:05:40,315 I don't believe it was sexual in nature, 1646 01:05:40,398 --> 01:05:44,110 it was just like a sort of like the way she was being treated. 1647 01:05:44,194 --> 01:05:46,863 And she brought that up to Rus 1648 01:05:46,946 --> 01:05:49,240 and from what I understand the general sentiment 1649 01:05:49,324 --> 01:05:52,952 is that Rus kinda used that against Colin 1650 01:05:53,036 --> 01:05:58,541 as ammo to kinda push away the whole Colin as CEO notion. 1651 01:06:01,252 --> 01:06:07,467 - I had seen messages between him and a friend 1652 01:06:07,550 --> 01:06:11,554 saying I don't trust Rus anymore, 1653 01:06:11,638 --> 01:06:12,847 I feel like Rus is the one 1654 01:06:12,931 --> 01:06:15,725 who's orchestrating this whole thing. 1655 01:06:44,170 --> 01:06:45,797 - The board investigated 1656 01:06:45,922 --> 01:06:49,592 and they didn't find anything egregious about what he did. 1657 01:06:58,977 --> 01:07:00,687 - The president took time today to meet with 1658 01:07:00,770 --> 01:07:02,856 the rap star and front man Kanye West, 1659 01:07:02,939 --> 01:07:04,691 it was a rather bizarre scene. 1660 01:07:04,774 --> 01:07:06,985 - I couldn't even watch it. I had to turn 1661 01:07:07,110 --> 01:07:08,403 the television off. 1662 01:07:08,486 --> 01:07:10,447 - Around that time into the summer 1663 01:07:10,572 --> 01:07:14,117 Rus calls me into boardroom one day 1664 01:07:14,242 --> 01:07:20,540 and tells me he has a big idea and at this point I was like 1665 01:07:20,623 --> 01:07:22,417 I need to start recording this guy 1666 01:07:22,500 --> 01:07:24,127 so I can like pin him on what he says 1667 01:07:24,210 --> 01:07:27,839 'cause he just there's there's he's so slippery. 1668 01:07:49,235 --> 01:07:51,988 - I mean it was like the most out of left field thing 1669 01:07:52,072 --> 01:07:53,490 I'd ever heard. 1670 01:07:53,615 --> 01:07:55,575 His big pitch was no, no this is gonna be great 1671 01:07:55,658 --> 01:07:57,160 'cause you're the host and the CEO 1672 01:07:57,285 --> 01:08:00,080 and we can hire a camera crew to follow you around, 1673 01:08:00,163 --> 01:08:01,664 make it a reality show. 1674 01:08:08,046 --> 01:08:09,464 - You know talking to the audience 1675 01:08:09,547 --> 01:08:10,924 and saying like what tie should I wear 1676 01:08:11,007 --> 01:08:12,634 to the investor meeting today, 1677 01:08:12,717 --> 01:08:14,678 should it be the blue one or the black one 1678 01:08:14,803 --> 01:08:16,554 and be like you can get interactive feedback. 1679 01:08:27,774 --> 01:08:29,734 - You know, I'm just like this is-- 1680 01:08:37,367 --> 01:08:39,160 - It just seemed comical. 1681 01:08:39,244 --> 01:08:41,746 But he was just desperate to figure something out. 1682 01:08:41,871 --> 01:08:45,417 To get someone else in there other than Colin. 1683 01:08:57,387 --> 01:09:03,143 - And I left there thinking okay like we're in trouble. 1684 01:09:03,226 --> 01:09:05,145 [sighs] 1685 01:09:05,228 --> 01:09:08,481 Yeah, and but then, you know, I took that week 1686 01:09:08,565 --> 01:09:11,776 to really think about the CEO thing. 1687 01:09:11,901 --> 01:09:14,904 I bought a book, CEO for dummies kind of thing. 1688 01:09:15,030 --> 01:09:18,867 I did take some business school classes at-at Hopkins. 1689 01:09:18,950 --> 01:09:22,579 I said I think people in the office would respect me 1690 01:09:22,662 --> 01:09:24,122 and would-- you know, they already did 1691 01:09:24,247 --> 01:09:26,041 so I would rally everybody together, 1692 01:09:26,124 --> 01:09:28,084 say guys let's save this thing, let's turn this around. 1693 01:09:30,045 --> 01:09:32,422 - Initially it seems crazy. 1694 01:09:32,505 --> 01:09:37,719 You're not really thinking about the host being the CEO. 1695 01:09:39,054 --> 01:09:40,930 - So I wrapped my head around and said okay you know what, 1696 01:09:41,056 --> 01:09:46,269 shoot like, you know, if not me, who, if not now, when? 1697 01:09:46,394 --> 01:09:49,606 ♪ ♪ 1698 01:09:49,731 --> 01:09:52,317 I booked a flight to San Francisco, 1699 01:09:52,442 --> 01:09:58,198 had a Power-point put together, met with the investors. 1700 01:09:58,281 --> 01:10:01,618 And I said here's my pitch. 1701 01:10:04,245 --> 01:10:06,623 You know, here's why Rus needs to go. 1702 01:10:06,706 --> 01:10:10,502 Here's why I don't think Colin is the right fit as well. 1703 01:10:10,627 --> 01:10:12,128 Rus came to me with this idea, 1704 01:10:12,212 --> 01:10:13,880 I thought it was crazy at first, 1705 01:10:13,963 --> 01:10:18,551 but now it might just be our last hope here. 1706 01:10:18,635 --> 01:10:20,470 Jeremy thoughtfully considered it 1707 01:10:20,553 --> 01:10:22,889 and he-he said thank you for coming here, 1708 01:10:22,972 --> 01:10:26,559 thank you for meeting me, and-and Rus wanted me in. 1709 01:10:28,228 --> 01:10:30,480 I kinda left thinking okay this might happen, 1710 01:10:30,605 --> 01:10:33,441 this might happen. 1711 01:10:33,525 --> 01:10:39,072 And then about a week later when they had the vote, 1712 01:10:39,155 --> 01:10:44,911 and, uh, they named Colin CEO 1713 01:10:44,994 --> 01:10:48,164 and to me, it was like well, you know, again I tried. 1714 01:10:48,248 --> 01:10:49,916 You know, Colin, we'll see what he can do. 1715 01:10:50,000 --> 01:10:52,168 Look, I mean, he's a co-founder, 1716 01:10:52,293 --> 01:10:55,588 let's-let's anything's better than Rus, right? 1717 01:10:58,216 --> 01:11:05,181 Colin now in his capacity as CEO had the ability 1718 01:11:05,306 --> 01:11:08,601 to excommunicate Rus. 1719 01:11:08,685 --> 01:11:12,439 If I became CEO, that would be my first order of business. 1720 01:11:12,522 --> 01:11:14,274 Give Rus that bottle of champagne 1721 01:11:14,357 --> 01:11:17,819 and say here you go, man, now please see yourself out 1722 01:11:17,902 --> 01:11:19,988 and never come back. 1723 01:11:21,322 --> 01:11:24,784 Unfortunately, that's not what Colin did when he became CEO 1724 01:11:24,868 --> 01:11:27,370 and it caused all sorts of other problems. 1725 01:11:27,495 --> 01:11:29,372 - We've had a hardware restart. 1726 01:11:29,497 --> 01:11:31,750 - May have had an instrumentation problem. 1727 01:11:31,875 --> 01:11:33,251 - Colin had a lot 1728 01:11:33,376 --> 01:11:35,045 of responsibilities on his plate. 1729 01:11:35,128 --> 01:11:37,380 This company had really started to stagnate. 1730 01:11:37,464 --> 01:11:41,426 Now it was really transitioning into the second act. 1731 01:11:41,551 --> 01:11:43,636 He needed to come up with what was HQ Trivia 1732 01:11:43,720 --> 01:11:47,098 going to be next, not just what it already was. 1733 01:11:50,352 --> 01:11:53,897 - Colin opened it up to every single employee 1734 01:11:54,022 --> 01:11:55,899 to come up with like what they thought 1735 01:11:55,982 --> 01:11:58,234 would be an exciting new show 1736 01:11:58,360 --> 01:12:00,904 and we literally pitched it to them. 1737 01:12:00,987 --> 01:12:04,240 - Let's dive right in and meet today's bachelor. 1738 01:12:04,366 --> 01:12:07,243 - There was an idea for there to be a dating show, 1739 01:12:07,369 --> 01:12:08,411 a comedy show... 1740 01:12:08,495 --> 01:12:09,579 - Record high pollen count. 1741 01:12:09,662 --> 01:12:11,581 Who the fuck counts pollen? 1742 01:12:11,706 --> 01:12:14,250 - Where you could boo someone that's not doing a good job. 1743 01:12:14,334 --> 01:12:15,585 ♪ ♪ 1744 01:12:15,669 --> 01:12:16,628 - Things started to turn around 1745 01:12:16,753 --> 01:12:18,129 when Colin became CEO. 1746 01:12:18,254 --> 01:12:21,049 - He basically gave everybody their autonomy. 1747 01:12:21,132 --> 01:12:24,052 Let them design and build. 1748 01:12:24,135 --> 01:12:25,887 - His platform was like, listen to people here 1749 01:12:25,970 --> 01:12:28,264 and, like, take feedback and work together 1750 01:12:28,390 --> 01:12:29,766 to make something happen. 1751 01:12:29,849 --> 01:12:31,267 ♪ ♪ 1752 01:12:31,351 --> 01:12:32,852 - Colin had put so much time and effort 1753 01:12:32,936 --> 01:12:35,230 into creating HQ Words... 1754 01:12:35,313 --> 01:12:36,815 - It's time for HQ Words! 1755 01:12:36,898 --> 01:12:40,068 - The next game that was going to be launched soon. 1756 01:12:40,151 --> 01:12:41,861 - We had balloons in the office. 1757 01:12:41,945 --> 01:12:43,905 HQ Words, ready to go with our new show. 1758 01:12:43,988 --> 01:12:47,951 - You could tell that Colin was under a lot of stress. 1759 01:12:48,076 --> 01:12:52,080 He felt the responsibility of keeping everyone employed 1760 01:12:52,163 --> 01:12:55,458 and making the investors happy at the same time. 1761 01:13:01,923 --> 01:13:04,467 - He was working day and night, 1762 01:13:04,551 --> 01:13:07,721 really grueling hours, 1763 01:13:07,804 --> 01:13:09,347 partly driven by a creative desire 1764 01:13:09,472 --> 01:13:12,434 to accomplish something, but, you know, 1765 01:13:12,517 --> 01:13:14,102 it was all weighing on him. 1766 01:13:15,854 --> 01:13:18,648 [soft music] 1767 01:13:18,773 --> 01:13:25,780 ♪ ♪ 1768 01:13:25,989 --> 01:13:28,158 - Let's now talk "Fortnite," shall we? 1769 01:13:28,283 --> 01:13:29,868 - This is one of those viral games 1770 01:13:29,993 --> 01:13:31,745 that is literally sucking productivity 1771 01:13:31,828 --> 01:13:33,997 out of schools, out of workplaces. 1772 01:13:34,122 --> 01:13:36,207 You can forget trying to have a conversation at home. 1773 01:13:36,332 --> 01:13:40,462 - Right before Christmas 2018, HQ had their holiday party. 1774 01:13:40,545 --> 01:13:42,255 - I was hosting it. 1775 01:13:42,339 --> 01:13:44,632 I went and got little lights on the table, 1776 01:13:44,716 --> 01:13:48,178 the décor for the makeshift phone booth. 1777 01:13:48,303 --> 01:13:50,680 I was kinda, like, mingling with everyone, 1778 01:13:50,805 --> 01:13:52,515 just making my rounds the whole night, 1779 01:13:52,640 --> 01:13:54,768 making sure that everyone was having a good time. 1780 01:13:54,851 --> 01:13:57,812 - I am Frosty the Host Man, bringing you dough, man. 1781 01:13:57,896 --> 01:13:59,356 The elf of wealth... 1782 01:13:59,439 --> 01:14:03,276 - It was a really, really, really nice party. 1783 01:14:03,360 --> 01:14:08,281 - At the Christmas party, Colin was looking worn out. 1784 01:14:08,365 --> 01:14:10,200 He was, you know, taking a break from drinking. 1785 01:14:10,283 --> 01:14:12,035 He felt he was drinking too much. 1786 01:14:12,160 --> 01:14:14,829 It's probably hard to watch 1787 01:14:14,913 --> 01:14:18,041 all your co-workers get obliterated. 1788 01:14:18,166 --> 01:14:20,877 Kinda was in a bit of a rush to get outta there. 1789 01:14:21,002 --> 01:14:23,380 You know, he didn't wanna be tempted. 1790 01:14:23,463 --> 01:14:26,216 - Colin comes up to me and he says, "Hey V, 1791 01:14:26,299 --> 01:14:29,177 "I didn't wanna leave without telling without thanking you. 1792 01:14:29,260 --> 01:14:31,388 "It seems like everyone's having a good time. 1793 01:14:31,471 --> 01:14:34,307 And I just didn't wanna leave without saying goodbye." 1794 01:14:34,391 --> 01:14:40,063 ♪ ♪ 1795 01:14:41,523 --> 01:14:44,275 - Good morning. Periods of rain today. 1796 01:14:44,401 --> 01:14:46,069 Low clouds, 39, 1797 01:14:46,152 --> 01:14:48,196 with northeast winds of 15. Feels more like... 1798 01:14:48,279 --> 01:14:50,073 - The weekend after that party, 1799 01:14:50,156 --> 01:14:53,201 I got a text with an article that had the headline 1800 01:14:53,284 --> 01:14:57,872 that said that the co-founder of HQ had passed away. 1801 01:14:59,457 --> 01:15:00,959 - The co-founder of one of the world's 1802 01:15:01,084 --> 01:15:03,086 most popular trivia games has died. 1803 01:15:03,211 --> 01:15:06,673 An official tells CNN that HQ Trivia CEO Colin Kroll 1804 01:15:06,756 --> 01:15:09,259 was found dead this morning in New York. 1805 01:15:09,384 --> 01:15:11,594 - Colin Kroll, CEO of HQ, dead at 34. 1806 01:15:11,678 --> 01:15:15,265 It's like, what? Like, is this--is this a joke? 1807 01:15:15,348 --> 01:15:16,933 - You might not know his name, 1808 01:15:17,058 --> 01:15:18,810 but you probably know his work. 1809 01:15:18,935 --> 01:15:21,771 He co-founded the viral game HQ Trivia 1810 01:15:21,855 --> 01:15:23,398 and the video app Vine. 1811 01:15:23,481 --> 01:15:25,275 - Officers went into Colin Kroll's apartment 1812 01:15:25,400 --> 01:15:27,027 early Sunday after his girlfriend 1813 01:15:27,110 --> 01:15:28,570 requested a wellness check. 1814 01:15:28,653 --> 01:15:30,113 - Police say Kroll was found unconscious 1815 01:15:30,238 --> 01:15:31,990 and unresponsive in his bedroom. 1816 01:15:32,115 --> 01:15:33,450 - Then, like, other, you know, texts 1817 01:15:33,575 --> 01:15:34,659 just started flooding in. 1818 01:15:34,784 --> 01:15:37,120 I was like, "Oh, my God." 1819 01:15:37,203 --> 01:15:38,496 I mean, it was--that was just like-- 1820 01:15:38,621 --> 01:15:39,706 it was totally surreal. 1821 01:15:39,789 --> 01:15:42,042 It was totally, totally surreal. 1822 01:15:42,125 --> 01:15:49,341 ♪ ♪ 1823 01:15:51,343 --> 01:15:54,888 - I found out about Colin's death on Twitter 1824 01:15:54,971 --> 01:15:57,849 and just being. you know. dumbfounded. 1825 01:15:57,974 --> 01:16:00,977 ♪ ♪ 1826 01:16:01,061 --> 01:16:06,566 I remember kinda reaching out to other colleagues and friends 1827 01:16:06,649 --> 01:16:09,486 and--and trying to learn what had happened. 1828 01:16:09,569 --> 01:16:11,488 ♪ ♪ 1829 01:16:11,613 --> 01:16:12,989 - I always thought of him 1830 01:16:13,114 --> 01:16:16,701 as a surprisingly approachable, normal person. 1831 01:16:16,826 --> 01:16:19,287 Just a single guy in New York 1832 01:16:19,371 --> 01:16:22,374 looking to hang out with friends, 1833 01:16:22,499 --> 01:16:25,919 who happens to be responsible for this company, 1834 01:16:26,002 --> 01:16:29,506 and just, you know, it makes me realize 1835 01:16:29,631 --> 01:16:34,260 he was carrying a huge secret around in plain sight. 1836 01:16:34,344 --> 01:16:37,180 - New York police found him unconscious in his bed, 1837 01:16:37,305 --> 01:16:38,723 and they suspect a drug overdose 1838 01:16:38,848 --> 01:16:40,266 as the cause of death. 1839 01:16:42,268 --> 01:16:44,646 - I never, in my wildest imagination, 1840 01:16:44,729 --> 01:16:51,111 could have ever guessed that Colin was doing heroin. 1841 01:16:52,404 --> 01:16:54,030 Colin died of a heroin overdose 1842 01:16:54,155 --> 01:16:55,699 because there was fentanyl in it. 1843 01:16:55,782 --> 01:16:58,243 And that was, like, the point when I even learned 1844 01:16:58,368 --> 01:16:59,994 that he was doing heroin. 1845 01:17:01,538 --> 01:17:03,456 - Some people wanted to just-- "Let's cancel the show. 1846 01:17:03,540 --> 01:17:05,500 We're not doing a show tonight." 1847 01:17:05,583 --> 01:17:08,962 We were debating, like, you know, 1848 01:17:09,045 --> 01:17:10,588 "What--what--what do we do here, 1849 01:17:10,714 --> 01:17:13,758 and how do we approach this?" and I was like, "Guys, 1850 01:17:13,883 --> 01:17:16,594 "like, you have to--we have to acknowledge this. 1851 01:17:16,720 --> 01:17:19,639 I mean, it'd be crazy not to say something." 1852 01:17:21,725 --> 01:17:23,309 It is with a heavy heart 1853 01:17:23,393 --> 01:17:24,936 that I must share some tragic news 1854 01:17:25,020 --> 01:17:27,522 that has befallen the HQ family. 1855 01:17:27,605 --> 01:17:32,277 So I had this idea to say, like, "Let's go live at 9:00, 1856 01:17:32,402 --> 01:17:36,239 and I will just, you know, eulogize Colin." 1857 01:17:36,364 --> 01:17:39,617 Colin, or CK, as we called him, 1858 01:17:39,743 --> 01:17:42,620 was a true visionary who changed the game twice, 1859 01:17:42,746 --> 01:17:45,874 first with Vine, and then with this very app. 1860 01:17:45,957 --> 01:17:47,042 - You always wondered, like, 1861 01:17:47,125 --> 01:17:48,793 what was he gonna make next? 1862 01:17:48,918 --> 01:17:50,795 - Thank you, CK. 1863 01:17:50,920 --> 01:17:54,716 Good night, everybody. 1864 01:17:54,799 --> 01:17:57,552 - We have no idea how mobile and media might've changed 1865 01:17:57,635 --> 01:18:00,638 if he'd still been around another decade or two. 1866 01:18:07,604 --> 01:18:10,940 - Some people come into our lives 1867 01:18:11,066 --> 01:18:12,442 and leave too soon, 1868 01:18:12,525 --> 01:18:15,737 leaving behind an afterimage, a fading memory. 1869 01:18:16,988 --> 01:18:18,615 Colin is not one of those people. 1870 01:18:20,241 --> 01:18:22,619 We were married in many ways, 1871 01:18:22,744 --> 01:18:27,207 and I lost-- and I lost a partner. 1872 01:18:27,290 --> 01:18:30,585 Obviously Colin struggled with his issues, as we all do. 1873 01:18:30,669 --> 01:18:36,257 Maybe for Colin, it was too much, too soon. 1874 01:18:37,550 --> 01:18:39,302 I can't say we always agreed 1875 01:18:39,386 --> 01:18:41,471 or that we were always happy with each other, 1876 01:18:41,554 --> 01:18:43,640 but it was during these challenging times 1877 01:18:43,765 --> 01:18:45,767 that Colin's kind soul and big heart 1878 01:18:45,850 --> 01:18:49,229 would truly shine. 1879 01:18:49,312 --> 01:18:50,855 I hope he left each and every one of you 1880 01:18:50,980 --> 01:18:54,776 with that sense of feeling special, as he did with me. 1881 01:18:54,859 --> 01:18:56,611 Thank you. 1882 01:19:02,575 --> 01:19:05,495 - After Colin died, we had to figure out 1883 01:19:05,620 --> 01:19:06,871 what we're gonna do with this company 1884 01:19:06,996 --> 01:19:08,498 that was now without its CEO, 1885 01:19:08,581 --> 01:19:10,667 without its co-founder, completely rudderless. 1886 01:19:10,750 --> 01:19:14,295 Cyan had basically recused herself from the board, 1887 01:19:14,379 --> 01:19:18,008 so, like, now the board is just Jeremy and Rus, 1888 01:19:18,133 --> 01:19:22,220 and we need a CEO. 1889 01:19:22,345 --> 01:19:27,308 Jeremy reinstated Rus as CEO, interim CEO. 1890 01:19:27,392 --> 01:19:29,978 - But that meant that HQ Trivia was going back 1891 01:19:30,061 --> 01:19:32,105 to a lot of its problems. 1892 01:19:32,188 --> 01:19:33,648 They still needed to experiment, 1893 01:19:33,732 --> 01:19:35,817 and that was not Rus's strong suit. 1894 01:19:35,900 --> 01:19:38,987 - Words was supposed to come out the day 1895 01:19:39,070 --> 01:19:41,489 that Colin died. That got delayed. 1896 01:19:41,573 --> 01:19:44,451 - And then, by the time HQ Words comes out, 1897 01:19:44,534 --> 01:19:46,202 the excitement's gone, the passion's gone. 1898 01:19:46,286 --> 01:19:48,121 - Welcome to HQ Words! 1899 01:19:48,204 --> 01:19:49,456 - The app's already on the way out. 1900 01:19:49,539 --> 01:19:50,915 - [gasps] It's getting old. 1901 01:19:51,041 --> 01:19:52,417 - If they had launched it 1902 01:19:52,542 --> 01:19:54,336 at the peak of HQ Trivia's popularity, 1903 01:19:54,419 --> 01:19:56,755 it could've been equally massive, 1904 01:19:56,880 --> 01:19:59,341 but it was a little bit too little, too late. 1905 01:19:59,424 --> 01:20:02,344 - It was an icy reception. 1906 01:20:04,095 --> 01:20:10,268 - No-one at HQ wanted to let Colin down posthumously 1907 01:20:10,393 --> 01:20:12,896 'cause he had put all of his blood, sweat, 1908 01:20:12,979 --> 01:20:15,023 and tears into this thing, 1909 01:20:15,106 --> 01:20:17,984 but with Rus at the helm again, 1910 01:20:18,068 --> 01:20:19,569 there was really never 1911 01:20:19,694 --> 01:20:21,404 a light at the end of the tunnel. 1912 01:20:21,529 --> 01:20:24,407 - In many ways, Colin was the product. 1913 01:20:24,532 --> 01:20:26,910 He had the idea and the know-how to do it. 1914 01:20:27,577 --> 01:20:30,413 Without him in our back pocket, 1915 01:20:30,538 --> 01:20:33,750 it was kinda just a bunch of people 1916 01:20:33,833 --> 01:20:35,835 thinking, "Well what would he have done?" 1917 01:20:35,919 --> 01:20:38,546 [electronic music] 1918 01:20:38,630 --> 01:20:41,007 - Morale was now at an all-time low, 1919 01:20:41,091 --> 01:20:45,428 and dominoes were falling, people were leaving. 1920 01:20:45,553 --> 01:20:47,806 - I mean, they laid off a few of us at once, 1921 01:20:47,931 --> 01:20:49,766 and they were very solemn, and they were just like 1922 01:20:49,849 --> 01:20:53,353 "Hey, just wanna let you know today's your last day at HQ," 1923 01:20:53,436 --> 01:20:57,107 and they gave me a tote bag to put my stuff in 1924 01:20:57,190 --> 01:20:59,651 with the HQ logo on it, which I thought was funny. 1925 01:20:59,776 --> 01:21:02,862 I mean, definitely a final little piece on top of it. 1926 01:21:02,946 --> 01:21:04,739 - It really, you know-- this was it. 1927 01:21:04,823 --> 01:21:07,200 The ship was truly sinking here. 1928 01:21:07,283 --> 01:21:09,119 That's why, when I had an opportunity 1929 01:21:09,244 --> 01:21:11,287 to go elsewhere, I took it. 1930 01:21:11,371 --> 01:21:14,040 Dan Plesac. This is actually Dan's jacket. 1931 01:21:14,124 --> 01:21:17,627 It was like a streaming sports app produced by MOB, 1932 01:21:17,711 --> 01:21:19,504 and I'm a huge baseball fan. 1933 01:21:19,629 --> 01:21:21,464 ♪ Meet the Mets, meet the Mets ♪ 1934 01:21:21,589 --> 01:21:24,509 I'm thinking I can still do the Sunday night at HQ 1935 01:21:24,634 --> 01:21:26,469 and do change up Monday through Friday. 1936 01:21:26,594 --> 01:21:28,138 Rus did not wanna do that, 1937 01:21:28,221 --> 01:21:31,766 and they did not wanna do a farewell, and so okay. 1938 01:21:31,850 --> 01:21:34,978 I guess that I'm no longer gonna be hosting at HQ, 1939 01:21:35,103 --> 01:21:39,274 and, uh... that was that. 1940 01:21:41,109 --> 01:21:43,820 [allegro music] 1941 01:21:43,903 --> 01:21:45,530 When I, you know, finally announced on Twitter, 1942 01:21:45,655 --> 01:21:46,823 like formally said, you know, 1943 01:21:46,948 --> 01:21:48,825 "I'm no longer at HQ, 1944 01:21:48,950 --> 01:21:51,411 and I've got this new show. I'm really excited about it," 1945 01:21:51,494 --> 01:21:53,204 and all the tributes starting coming in 1946 01:21:53,329 --> 01:21:54,664 and the Rock tweeted at me, 1947 01:21:54,748 --> 01:21:56,499 and, you know, that was trending 1948 01:21:56,583 --> 01:21:59,044 on Twitter for a weekend, the fact that I left HQ 1949 01:21:59,169 --> 01:22:00,587 and people were upset that--like, you know, 1950 01:22:00,670 --> 01:22:02,339 "Where's the farewell show?" You know. 1951 01:22:02,464 --> 01:22:03,923 It would've been nice to do for the fans. 1952 01:22:04,007 --> 01:22:08,303 It's like, how do you not see how bad this looks? 1953 01:22:10,013 --> 01:22:11,890 [breaker winds down] 1954 01:22:13,475 --> 01:22:16,061 - So if Scott leaves in April 2019, 1955 01:22:16,186 --> 01:22:18,730 Valentine's Day of 2020 1956 01:22:18,855 --> 01:22:21,274 is where they officially pulled the plug on HQ. 1957 01:22:21,358 --> 01:22:23,234 - It is Friday, February 14th. 1958 01:22:23,318 --> 01:22:25,028 Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. 1959 01:22:25,111 --> 01:22:26,529 - Happy Valentine's Day. 1960 01:22:26,613 --> 01:22:29,366 - We heard that HQ was being canceled, 1961 01:22:29,449 --> 01:22:32,410 that that was it, that HQ was no more. 1962 01:22:32,535 --> 01:22:36,289 So it was kind of a sad moment. Like, this is it. 1963 01:22:36,373 --> 01:22:38,958 ♪ ♪ 1964 01:22:39,042 --> 01:22:42,545 - Publicly, the ending was really abrupt. 1965 01:22:42,629 --> 01:22:45,048 For a lot of people, it was just a notification 1966 01:22:45,131 --> 01:22:46,758 sent to their phone. 1967 01:22:46,883 --> 01:22:48,468 "We're done. See you later. 1968 01:22:48,551 --> 01:22:49,886 Thanks for the good times." 1969 01:22:50,970 --> 01:22:52,180 - Hey! 1970 01:22:52,263 --> 01:22:54,057 But... 1971 01:22:54,182 --> 01:22:57,477 There's still plans to produce this last show the next day. 1972 01:22:58,978 --> 01:23:01,731 So what did the hosts do? They got drunk. 1973 01:23:01,815 --> 01:23:04,192 - This is the last game ever, 1974 01:23:04,275 --> 01:23:08,655 and this $5 prize is coming out of my own pocket. 1975 01:23:08,738 --> 01:23:10,573 We ran out of money. 1976 01:23:10,657 --> 01:23:12,575 We just kept giving it away. 1977 01:23:12,701 --> 01:23:16,329 - $6 million in prizes. - That's insane. 1978 01:23:16,413 --> 01:23:19,916 - It was a beautiful final train wreck to witness. 1979 01:23:20,041 --> 01:23:22,293 - We got this in case we hit 3 million players. 1980 01:23:22,419 --> 01:23:23,753 Should we open it? 1981 01:23:23,837 --> 01:23:25,755 - Everyone was basically commiserating together 1982 01:23:25,839 --> 01:23:26,673 on the air. 1983 01:23:26,756 --> 01:23:29,134 - Whoa! Oh, my God! 1984 01:23:29,259 --> 01:23:31,011 [laughs] 1985 01:23:31,094 --> 01:23:34,764 Matt! Agh. 1986 01:23:34,889 --> 01:23:36,433 - A bunch of champagne fell on my crotch. 1987 01:23:36,516 --> 01:23:37,684 Feels like I peed my pants. 1988 01:23:37,767 --> 01:23:40,437 - Let me see. Does it... 1989 01:23:40,562 --> 01:23:41,938 Ooh, wow, it does. 1990 01:23:42,022 --> 01:23:44,941 Final question... - Q12. 1991 01:23:45,066 --> 01:23:47,944 Final question ever. 1992 01:23:48,028 --> 01:23:53,283 - And then the tweet went out, you know, HQ is shutting down, 1993 01:23:53,366 --> 01:23:54,868 ran out of money. 1994 01:23:54,951 --> 01:23:57,954 [feedback noise] 1995 01:24:01,291 --> 01:24:05,253 [jaunty xylophone music] 1996 01:24:05,337 --> 01:24:09,466 - HQ shut down for what we thought was gonna be for good. 1997 01:24:10,633 --> 01:24:12,719 - Whoo! We were gone for a while. 1998 01:24:12,802 --> 01:24:17,098 - HQ ended up coming back. And Rus did it. 1999 01:24:17,182 --> 01:24:20,477 - We've all been hard at work, building a brand-new, 2000 01:24:20,602 --> 01:24:22,395 just-for-you HQ, chapter two! 2001 01:24:22,479 --> 01:24:25,190 - Rus managed to find investors 2002 01:24:25,315 --> 01:24:28,151 that believed that HQ still had something special, 2003 01:24:28,234 --> 01:24:32,280 even if it was never gonna have 2.3 million players again. 2004 01:24:32,364 --> 01:24:34,074 - ♪ Seventh question ♪ 2005 01:24:34,157 --> 01:24:35,700 We gonna make a TikTok. 2006 01:24:35,825 --> 01:24:38,036 - I--I... 2007 01:24:38,161 --> 01:24:39,704 - Who got it? Who got it? 2008 01:24:39,829 --> 01:24:41,623 - It folded in in February of 2020 2009 01:24:41,706 --> 01:24:46,127 and was mysteriously resurrected six weeks later 2010 01:24:46,211 --> 01:24:47,712 as a shell of its former self. 2011 01:24:47,837 --> 01:24:52,092 - I'm so excited! HQ Trivia is back, y'all. 2012 01:24:52,175 --> 01:24:53,718 Yeah! 2013 01:24:56,429 --> 01:24:59,349 [electronic music] 2014 01:24:59,432 --> 01:25:05,188 ♪ ♪ 2015 01:25:05,271 --> 01:25:06,856 - I'm technically inventor. 2016 01:25:06,981 --> 01:25:10,985 I'm on the design patent for this app that I helped build. 2017 01:25:11,069 --> 01:25:15,031 I watched it rise to being the most popular thing 2018 01:25:15,115 --> 01:25:17,784 in pop culture in one moment in time. 2019 01:25:19,369 --> 01:25:22,956 I remember seeing Joe Biden, before he was president, 2020 01:25:23,039 --> 01:25:25,875 tell Scott Rogowsky that Scott was more popular than him. 2021 01:25:27,043 --> 01:25:31,339 And then I watched it all slowly go away. 2022 01:25:31,423 --> 01:25:37,595 ♪ ♪ 2023 01:25:37,721 --> 01:25:41,224 - That isn't a new story. That's an important story. 2024 01:25:41,349 --> 01:25:43,184 [cheers and applause] 2025 01:25:43,268 --> 01:25:44,561 The hype and the excitement 2026 01:25:44,644 --> 01:25:46,271 of founders becoming rock stars 2027 01:25:46,396 --> 01:25:47,522 and then failure, 2028 01:25:47,605 --> 01:25:50,483 like big failure, quick failure. 2029 01:25:50,567 --> 01:25:51,776 I don't think a lot of us 2030 01:25:51,901 --> 01:25:53,987 will know this pressure, right, 2031 01:25:54,070 --> 01:25:56,781 when they put millions of dollars into you. 2032 01:25:56,906 --> 01:25:59,743 You gotta manage to live up to that insane valuation 2033 01:25:59,868 --> 01:26:02,037 that everyone believed you had. 2034 01:26:02,120 --> 01:26:04,873 Not to take it far-- this is a quiz app-- 2035 01:26:04,956 --> 01:26:07,042 but I think HQ's just like a microcosm 2036 01:26:07,125 --> 01:26:10,587 for a much larger landscape of start-ups 2037 01:26:10,712 --> 01:26:13,089 and what happened over the last decade. 2038 01:26:13,173 --> 01:26:16,092 [glitzy music] 2039 01:26:16,176 --> 01:26:19,095 ♪ ♪ 2040 01:26:19,220 --> 01:26:21,514 - I've been spending a lot of time in my office here 2041 01:26:21,598 --> 01:26:23,725 in my store, Quiz Daddy's Closet, 2042 01:26:23,808 --> 01:26:26,478 my vintage clothing shop. 2043 01:26:26,603 --> 01:26:28,313 I'm hosting a podcast. 2044 01:26:28,438 --> 01:26:30,523 I'm hosting livestreams of the show I created 2045 01:26:30,607 --> 01:26:31,900 called Wild Cards. 2046 01:26:31,983 --> 01:26:33,360 Tutu and I are gonna open that box, 2047 01:26:33,443 --> 01:26:34,736 finding his rookie card in here. 2048 01:26:34,819 --> 01:26:36,613 And I have guests join me, 2049 01:26:36,738 --> 01:26:38,114 athletes and-- 2050 01:26:38,198 --> 01:26:39,407 So let's go here, Tutu. 2051 01:26:39,491 --> 01:26:40,825 This is going out to, uh, Christian. 2052 01:26:40,950 --> 01:26:42,660 Fresh from the pack to Tutu's hands. 2053 01:26:42,786 --> 01:26:44,120 How cool is that? 2054 01:26:44,204 --> 01:26:45,455 Yeah, I get people coming in here, 2055 01:26:45,580 --> 01:26:47,499 "Oh, my gosh, it's the HQ guy." 2056 01:26:47,624 --> 01:26:50,251 And I say, "Yeah that's me. 2057 01:26:50,335 --> 01:26:53,296 It'd better be me. I'm wearing his underwear." 2058 01:26:53,380 --> 01:26:56,049 Classic line. The late great Alex Trebek 2059 01:26:56,132 --> 01:26:59,469 had his estate sale last week. I went. 2060 01:26:59,552 --> 01:27:03,056 The whole situation is is somewhat absurd. 2061 01:27:03,139 --> 01:27:04,474 You know, you're doing this thing, 2062 01:27:04,599 --> 01:27:05,975 it becomes super popular, 2063 01:27:06,059 --> 01:27:07,435 you're recognized everywhere, 2064 01:27:07,519 --> 01:27:08,645 you're winning awards, 2065 01:27:08,728 --> 01:27:10,188 you're in magazines, 2066 01:27:10,313 --> 01:27:11,648 and all that, and then 2067 01:27:11,773 --> 01:27:13,733 it doesn't last forever, 2068 01:27:13,817 --> 01:27:16,111 and now you look back on it. 2069 01:27:16,194 --> 01:27:19,114 [upbeat music] 2070 01:27:19,197 --> 01:27:21,908 ♪ ♪ 2071 01:27:21,991 --> 01:27:24,744 Oh, that--that actually-- that all actually happened. 2072 01:27:24,828 --> 01:27:32,043 ♪ ♪ 2073 01:27:39,175 --> 01:27:42,053 [frenetic music] 2074 01:27:42,178 --> 01:27:49,185 ♪ ♪