Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

A longtime Google creative lead is heading to genomics startup Color

Michael Krantz was Google’s first consumer marketing writer 13 years ago.

Michael Krantz

Michael Krantz is leaving his 13-year Google career to head editorial at genomics startup Color.

He’ll be joining former Googlers Othman Laraki and Elad Gil, the company’s co-founders, and Katie Stanton, its CMO, at what is one of several health care tech startups launched by members of the Google diaspora. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson, head of engineering at Alphabet health care subsidiary Verily, are investors.

Krantz joined Google months before the company’s IPO in 2004, as the company’s first consumer marketing writer. He said his role ranged from overseeing April Fools jokes played on users to contributing to less-whimsical company materials, like an op-ed penned by then-CEO Eric Schmidt supporting the legal principles underlying the product now called Google Books.

More recently, he oversaw writing and editing of content for Google’s website explaining user privacy, privacy.google.com.

Before joining Google, Krantz, 54, filled a similar editorial role at a startup, and prior to that he worked as a tech journalist.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh