Rus Yusupov facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rus Yusupov
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Yusupov on "I'm with the Brand", Adweek, in 2019
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| Born |
Ruslan Yusupov
May 4, 1984 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
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| Alma mater | School of Visual Arts |
| Occupation | Internet entrepreneur, Product designer |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Known for | Founding HQ Trivia, Intermedia Labs, Vine and Big Human |
| Title | Co-founder and CEO at HQ Trivia, and founder at Big Human |
| Awards | Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award (2013), Variety Magazine Breakthrough of the Year (2014), PGA Digital VIP Award (2014), UJA Lydia Vareljan Leadership Award (2015), Webby Award's Webby 50 (2015) |
Rus Yusupov (born May 4, 1984) is a creative designer and a business person in the tech world. He is famous for helping start two popular apps: Vine and HQ Trivia.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Rus Yusupov was born in 1984 in Dushanbe, which was then part of the Soviet Union. His family was Bukharan Jewish. After some big changes in the world in 1989, his family moved to New York.
Rus grew up in New York. He went to LaGuardia High School of Music and Art. Later, he studied at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). He earned a degree in Graphic Design.
Starting His Career
Rus began his work as a digital product designer. He worked at companies like Razorfish and R/GA. In 2007, he was the main designer for the first version of Hulu.com. Hulu is a popular website for watching videos.
Creating New Apps
Rus Yusupov is known for creating exciting new apps. He has helped launch several popular platforms. These apps changed how people share videos and play games online.
Vine App
In June 2012, Rus helped create an app called Vine. Vine let users share very short, looping videos. These videos played over and over again.
Just a few months later, in October 2012, Twitter bought Vine. This happened right before Vine officially launched. In 2013, Vine became super popular. It was the most downloaded free app in the App Store. It was also the most used app for sharing videos at that time. Rus left Twitter in late 2015. He later shared a thought: "Don't sell your company!"
Intermedia Labs
After leaving Twitter, Rus started a new company in 2015. It was called Intermedia Labs. This company focused on creating new apps.
The first app from Intermedia Labs was Hype. Hype allowed people to share different kinds of videos and photos in a live broadcast. They also made an app called Bounce. Bounce let users "remix" or change videos.
HQ Trivia Game
One of Intermedia Labs' most successful apps was HQ Trivia. This app was a live trivia game. Players could join from their phones.
HQ Trivia was released in August 2017. It became very popular, with about 700,000 to 1,000,000 people playing each game. It was available all over the world. Live shows were made for players in North America, Australia, and the UK.
The app worked like a live game show. It usually played at 9 PM Eastern Time every day. Sometimes, there were special games about sports, music, or word puzzles. A host would ask 12 multiple-choice questions. Players had 10 seconds to pick one of three answers. If you answered correctly, you moved on. If you got it wrong, you were out. Players who answered the last question correctly shared prize money. The prize was often $5,000, but it was once as high as $400,000!
HQ Trivia stopped running on February 14, 2020. This happened because its main investors stopped giving money. However, Rus Yusupov later announced that HQ Trivia was coming back. It returned on March 29, 2020.
Awards and Recognition
Rus Yusupov has received many awards for his work. In 2013, he won a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award. Variety Magazine gave him a Breakthrough of the Year Award in 2014. He also received a PGA Digital VIP Award in 2014. In 2015, he earned the UJA Lydia Vareljan Leadership Award and the Webby Award's Webby 50.
HQ Trivia also won awards. It received the A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game in 2018. In 2019, it was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program.
Intermedia Labs was named one of Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies in 2018. HQ Trivia was also a finalist for Fast Company's 2018 Innovation By Design Award.
