This Week in Startups: Peter Thiel departs FB board, John Foley steps down at Peloton, Should Amazon spin off AWS? + Startup of the Day: Island | E1381

Molly and Jason cover Peter Thiel stepping down from FB’s board and look back at the board's evolution over time (2:07). Next, we cover Joe Lonsdale’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, where he argues AWS should be split off from Amazon (27:41). We debate if valuations would increase if separated. Then, Peloton Founder & CEO John Foley is stepping down as the firm lays off 2800 people (40:30). We debate if they angling for an acquisition or making a turnaround attempt. To wrap, we discuss our startup of the day, Island, which is a browser for enterprise with a big valuation for a pre-product company (50:11).



00:00 Jason and Molly tee up today’s topics

02:07 Peter Thiel is stepping down from Meta’s board after almost 17 years of service

11:48 Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/TWIST

13:12 Thiel maximizing political influence, Marc Andreessen’s shadow advice to Zuckerberg, other $FB board squabbles

24:32 Marlow - Get 15% off your individual or team memberships at https://getmarlow.com/twist.

25:47 Reed Hastings testy email to Peter Thiel in 2016 (while they were both $FB board members)

27:41 Joe Lonsdale’s case for splitting AWS away from Amazon’s retail business

39:08 Indochino - Get $50 off any purchase of $399 or more by using code TWIST at checkout https://indochino.com

40:30 Peloton CEO John Foley steps down as the company lays off ~2800 employees (20% of its corporate workforce)

50:11 Startup of the Day: Island.io — enterprise browsers in the cloud: valuation vs. traction, founder, market, and more

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