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 designer and entrepreneur who creates online products. He is famous for helping to start two popular apps: Vine and HQ Trivia.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Rus Yusupov was born in 1984 in Dushanbe, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time. His family was Bukharan Jewish.
Moving to New York
After some big changes in the world in 1989, his family moved to New York. Rus grew up there and went to LaGuardia High School.
College and Design
He later studied at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). He earned a degree in Graphic Design. This taught him how to create visual content for websites and apps.
Starting His Career
Rus began his career as a digital product designer. He worked at companies like Razorfish and R/GA. One of his first big projects was being the lead designer for the first version of Hulu.com in 2007.
Creating Popular Apps
Rus Yusupov is known for co-founding two very popular apps: Vine and HQ Trivia.
Vine: Short Videos
In June 2012, Rus Yusupov helped create Vine. This app allowed users to share very short, looping videos. Think of it like a super-short movie clip that plays over and over.
Vine became incredibly popular. It was sold to Twitter in October 2012, just before it officially launched. In 2013, Vine became the most downloaded free app in the App Store. It was the most used video-sharing app at that time. Rus Yusupov left Twitter in late 2015.
Intermedia Labs: New Ideas
After leaving Twitter, Rus Yusupov co-founded a company called Intermedia Labs in 2015. This company focused on creating new apps.
Hype and Bounce
One of the first apps from Intermedia Labs was Hype. It let people share different types of media in a live broadcast. Another app, Bounce, allowed users to "remix" videos.
HQ Trivia: Live Game Show
Intermedia Labs' most successful app was HQ Trivia. It was released in August 2017. HQ Trivia was a live game show that you could play on your phone.
The game was broadcast live, usually at 9 PM Eastern Time every day. Sometimes there were special shows about topics like sports or music. A host would ask 12 multiple-choice questions. Players had 10 seconds to answer each question correctly. If you answered wrong, you were out!
Players who answered all the questions correctly split the prize money. The prize was usually $5,000, but it was once as high as $400,000. HQ Trivia was available worldwide on the iOS App Store and Google Play. It had live shows for players in North America, Australia, and the UK.
HQ Trivia stopped its regular broadcasts on February 14, 2020. This happened after its main investors stopped funding the company. However, Rus Yusupov announced on March 29, 2020, that HQ Trivia was returning.
Awards and Recognition
Rus Yusupov has received several awards for his work in technology. These include:
- Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award (2013)
- Variety Magazine Breakthrough of the Year Award (2014)
- PGA Digital VIP Award (2014)
- UJA Lydia Vareljan Leadership Award (2015)
- Webby Award's Webby 50 (2015)
HQ Trivia also won the A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game in 2018. It was even nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program in 2019. 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.
