Dick Costolo is back, will launch a new company next year

Steven Loeb · December 7, 2015 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/41e2

While details are scarce, he does say it will be a software company in the personal wellness space

2015 was not the kindest year to Dick Costolo. After struggling mightily to get Twitter back on its feet, and to get its user numbers back up, he was forced to resign his position over the summer. Not only that, but he also resigned from the board of directors as well. Now he officially has no ties to the company he ran for nearly five years.

Costolo may be down, but he's not out, and he's already planning his next move, starting a new company in the spring, he said in an interview with Kara Swisher for the Re/code Decode podcast.

"I'm going to try to bring software to a space, I would call it, that hasn't traditionally leveraged software. I'll call it the personal wellness space, but that doesn't give you much detail, or any clarity, but that's fine," said Costolo. "I have a specific idea around this space that, I think, could benefit massively from software bringing brought to bear there so that's what I'm going to try to do."

In his time since leaving Twitter, Costolo has also been working on the HBO television show Silicon Valley, as well as doing some writing. 

"I've also gotten a little bit of the bug by being down in L.A., working on Silicon Valley, so I've got a couple of things that I'm starting," he said, specifically writing and producing in the entertainment industry.

One thing that Costolo will not do is try to compete with Twitter. 

I don’t want to do something that I feel like I’ve done before. So the next think I do is not going to be, I've started several consumer Internet companies," he said. "I want to do something that's really in a different space."

Elsewhere in the interview, Costolo was asked about he felt about Twitter and Jack Dorsey, his replacement as CEO of the company.

"I'm of two minds. I have so many friends there in the company, on the leadership team, and really throughout the organization around the world. I miss them deeply. I think about them all the time, I try to keep up with them, but you know it's hard when you're not there day to day with all of them. And I loved working with them. I loved building that company with them," he said.

"On the other hand, I think the world of Jack. He and I have developed a great relationship over the past few years. No one thinks more intuitively about product than he does. I just think he's eloquent in the way he thinks about it. He's direct in the way he thinks about it."

He also talked about the scrutiny he was under in his previous role, saying that, as a leader, he had to focus on the company itself, and not what other people were saying.

"Anyone who's been in the role of running a company, or in the public eye, knows that some of the stuff that's out there is absolutely spot on, and some of the stuff is complete nonsense."

Specifically he mentioned the various reports of Twitter being acquired, sometimes with companies he had never even spoken to.

(Image source: money.cnn.com)

Support VatorNews by Donating

Read more from our "Trends and news" series

More episodes

Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs

44918

Dick Costolo

Joined Vator on