Lifers with Christina Farr Othman Laraki, Color CEO, on surviving three major pivots
Mar 3, 2026
Othman Laraki, co-founder and CEO of Color and former product lead at Google and Twitter, talks about building a generational healthcare company. He recounts three major pivots from cancer genetics to national COVID infrastructure to a virtual cancer clinic. Conversation covers differences between tech and healthcare, shifting venture risk, and why clinical depth and market structure matter for long-term impact.
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Tortoise Tech Wins Take Years
- Deep technical products often take years to find market fit and can become massive once they do.
- Othman compares Figma and Google search as narrow features that became dominant platforms after long development arcs.
Venture Behavior Splits Between Risk And Asset Management
- Venture funding cycles are cyclical and some investors underwrite ideas, others underwrite teams or big thematic cycles.
- Othman notes some VCs act like asset managers chasing markups, not true risk-taking venture investors.
Go Deep Into Clinical Workflows Before Building
- Prioritize learning how clinicians and market incentives work over product-first thinking in healthcare.
- Othman warns product and tech are edges but not top three priorities for success in healthcare.