It's unclear exactly what Sippey and crew will do at Medium -- this is an unusual acquisition even by Silicon Valley standards. The work on Talkshow and Episode might help, but it's important to remember that Sippey is a former Twitter staffer like many people within Medium's ranks. The acquisition talk started after Sippey asked Twitter/Medium veteran Ev Williams for input on Episode, so it could easily have been an opportunity to hire more Twitter alumni and draw on their experience.