30Under30 Honouree: Andrew Roth

Great to hear from Significant Insights Global 30 under 30 honouree Andrew Roth, who is the Founder and CEO of dcdx, a global Gen Z research and strategy lab helping brands attract Gen Z.

So, how did you get into the industry, and take us through how you got to this point? 

By accident! Born from COVID boredom & frustration with traditional research methods from school, what started as experimentation led to a life in an industry I never knew existed.

`Why should anyone consider a career in market research, data and insights?

In a world where there are seemingly endless data points, what matters most is what we do with the data we have. The importance of strategic insight, and asking the right questions has become a categorical imperative for an industry poised to be disrupted by artificial intelligence.

Career paths are rarely without challenges. Can you share an honest moment from your career when things didn’t go quite according to plan, but the lessons remain with you to this day?

There are countless mistakes I made. Some of them I attributed directly to results of my actions, but most I attribute to just bad damn luck. And then there was more bad luck, and more bad luck. I learned that sometimes, we have to create our own luck. Successful people are not luckier than others – they just put themselves in the positions for luck to favor them at a ridiculously higher rate.

What two things should junior researchers focus on as they progress in their careers?

“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else”. Leonardo da Vinci. As data becomes increasingly more accessible, the value of making connections between things becomes more and more important.

One of our values at dcdx we call unreasonable intentionality; the idea that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The most successful researchers and strategists I work with realize that these raindrops make oceans, and focus unreasonably much on the small things, too.

Do you have any advice for our sector?

In a world of increasing polarization and of hyper-personalization, the need for nuance and objectivity has never been more important. If the way we help people see truth moves from giving them windows to mirrors, we risk far more than the obsoleteness of our industry as a consequence. When the world may seek confirmation from us, our job may be contradiction. Our responsibility for our future is one of nuance and neutrality.

And do you have anyone who has helped your career so far that you’d like to acknowledge and say thanks or give a shout out to?

Oh so many? Ben Zeidler, Christiana Messina, Kevin Walker, Rebecca McGuire, Michael Miraflor, JC Bonilla, and so, so many more. Sometimes all it takes is one person to believe in you, and that can change your entire life. That one person for me was Tressie Lieberman, at the time the VP of Digital Marketing at Chipotle, now the Global Chief Brand Officer at Starbucks. I’ll never forget the day I got the DM on Twitter from her. One thing I’ve observed is the most successful people in this industry take bets, big and small. Thank you to Tressie for taking that first bet on us.