Erik Olson

Senior Vice President of Global Sourcing & Product Execution, Crocs

Search every verified Erik Olson interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Erik Olson, Senior Vice President of Global Sourcing & Product Execution at Crocs, spoke at the PI Apparel New York 2018 conference about the concept of exponential growth. In a presentation titled "It's Just Math," Olson described the exponential growth curve as a pattern found in nature, such as in bacteria and population growth, as well as in technology. He stated that Moore's law is a variant of this curve, indicating that the amount of change doubles over time, growing faster and faster. Olson noted that at industry conferences, attendees often remark that "no time has been better," but he attributed this sentiment to the increasing pace of change and the growing number of available technologies. He cited an example from a friend in a startup working on photo management, who told him that the number of photos taken globally doubles each year. Olson characterized this pressure to adapt as a mathematical reality, saying, "when you feel this pressure to get in the game, this is what you're dealing with: math. It's just math."