Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo Pokes Fun At Twitter, Announces New Personal Fitness Startup

Dick Costolo still likes to go for the laugh. The comedian-turned-Twitter CEO announced Tuesday he is launching a new company for personal fitness technology and has joined as a partner at venture capital firm Index Ventures.

While both endeavors seem legitimate, his method of sharing the news poked fun at the social media company he used to oversee. He shared his plans via Twitter, but instead of constraining himself to 140 characters, doing a tweet-storm or linking to a Medium post (the new standard protocol for job changes in Silicon Valley), he posted two screenshots of his iPhone’s Apple Notes app that details his plans.

In case you were curious, Costolo, 52, uses Verizon as his service provider. He has his Bluetooth on in the morning, and his phone battery was at 98 percent. But in all seriousness, Costolo’s plans post-Twitter CEO, the role he stepped down from in June, include starting a company with Bryan Oki.

“This platform will go beyond measurement to motivate and drive improvement and make the road to personal transformation fun and social. For wellness professionals, from fitness coaches to physical therapists and nutritionists and more, our platform will be the easiest and most flexible way to extend expertise and guidance by orders of magnitude,” Costolo wrote.

Costolo noted the potential in the fitness industry, with specialized studios and connected devices. Indeed, fitness trackers were a highlight at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Yet, Costolo is not intimidated by the competitor but instead sees the “evolving landscape” as needing a connected ecosystem.

Coincidentally, the previous platform Costolo oversaw and helped bring to IPO back in 2013 has been struggling. Twitter experienced a several-hour-long outage globally this morning, and the stock has been at its lowest in history. Costolo had worked at Twitter from 2010 to 2015, originally serving as chief operating officer for a brief stint before his promotion to CEO.

Perhaps the reason Costolo didn’t post a blog on Medium: The company is headed by Twitter cofounder Ev Williams, the man he replaced as CEO at Twitter.

Since stepping down from the role last summer, Costolo has taken some time off and also worked as a consultant for the tech-themed HBO series “Silicon Valley," the New York Times reported.

The logistics behind Costolo’s company are currently unclear. “A lot more to say as we continue to build out what’s working so well in our proof-of-concepts,” Costolo wrote.