
Colin Kroll’s rise and untimely death - mudil
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tech-whiz-behind-vine-and-hq-trivia-made-millions-in-his-20s-he-was-dead-by-34-11550283078
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randomacct3847
It sounds like his family had a history of addiction, so to suggest that his
career as a tech founder caused him to overdose is a stretch. I believe though
that cofounding startups and dealing with the spotlight and drama are
stressors that could trigger someone to seek drugs if they are preconditioned
to abuse based on family history, but even stressful situations in a more
“normal” career path could easily do the same.

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nic_wilson
[https://outline.com/BY7Hge](https://outline.com/BY7Hge)

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mtnGoat
Thank you. Still not sure why posting paywalls is allowed here.

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mtnGoat
Why the downvotes? Do the rest of you like paywalls, or?

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TheSpiceIsLife
The HN guidelines explicitly statethat complaining about paywalls is off
topic.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

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chrischen
The irony of the drug war is that all the resources spent, FBI corruption in
closing down silk road is what makes the drug cartles richer and overall drug
procurmeent more dangerous. If there is anything crypto currency was _good_
for it was that.

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fakename11
Won't cartels get richer regardless of how one purchases drugs since they are
supplying them?

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chrischen
Anyone can supply drugs. It's getting it's distribution that's hard. Silk road
used USPS for distribution.

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kirillzubovsky
To be honest, it sucks for the guy, but I do love everything about this title.
We hear so much about "changing the world," in the startuplandia, but rarely
does anyone talk about living the life, and actually having years and ability
to enjoy it.

We need more x-founders and investors, the rare ones with heart and soul, to
not only talk about health, but actively promote a healthy lifestyle. You
might miss a unicorn or two, but you'd end up with less dead and utterly
messed up founders, I think.

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sergiotapia
After Kroll's girlfriend received no response when she called him, she asked
NYPD to visit his New York City apartment.[8] Kroll was found dead at the age
of 34[1] of a drug overdose.[9] Drugs found in his system include fentanyl,
fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl, heroin and cocaine, the examiner said.[10]

\---

He passed away from his battles with addiction, not really from "working too
hard".

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kirillzubovsky
Sure, but how many founders out there are addicted to various kinds of self-
harm, be that drugs, working for 20h/day, lack of healthy eating, not leaving
the office for weeks at a time...etc.

Point is, it's incredibly easy to engage in destructive behavior, especially
if you've got the mindset of taking things to extremes.

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replyguy912
All the things you mention are incerdibly damaging, but not necessarily the
same thing. not leaving the office, not exercising, poor diet are all symptoms
of things like working 20 hour days. In my mind that's the alternative to
drugs, which is an escape from not being able to disengage from your startup.

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ramphastidae
I think the parent comment is referring to more than just the ‘standard’
recreational drugs — I know lots of founders who abuse amphetamines to
maintain the habits you describe.

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samstave
You know what would be a great YCombinator call for service: develop a very
low cost drug-testing device to test for fentanyl / heroin / cocaine
/whatever... and light red or some way to warn from use

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diggan
Rather than solving this issue with technology, I think policy is the way to
go here. If drug use was less stigmatized and not criminally punished, people
who feel they are using too much drugs don't feel afraid of seeking help,
allow us to reach them quicker and earlier.

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fakename11
I would just note that there are very few deaths related to drugs in Japan.
It's possible to control. Though I suppose that doesn't include the issue with
alcoholism. Still, I feel like it makes sense to stigmatized something that is
dangerous and quite unhealthy.

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sheepdestroyer
In Japan, you go to prison, years, for having cannabis traces in your piss.
Then you get deported for good. And say goodbye to your Japanese family cause
you will not get a visa anymore.

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owens99
Dealing with all the stress, it really helps when you have co-founders you can
rely on and trust to have your best interests above all. It was really
disappointing to read about how it seemed his co-founder was undermining him
to secure the CEO role. I am not sure if it's Kroll being paranoid, but it's
clear their working relationship was terrible. Long term success can rarely be
achieved with such a dynamic.

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randomacct3847
I would not feel comfortable as an employee working there now after reading
this article...

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scarejunba
Wow, he's the guy who said "We can't date now" or whatever to that woman _and_
he was the guy who talked about his weekend with the other chick. Damn.

