Vanderbilt alumni Jake Aronskind (B.A. ‘19) and Andrew Roth (B.S. ‘21) were named to the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 North America list in December 2024 for their recent entrepreneurial success in starting their own individual businesses.
Aronskind is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Pepper, a recipe sharing app that allows over a million home cooks to share meal ideas, build in-app cookbooks and filter recipes. Roth is the CEO and founder of dcdx, a global research and strategy firm targeted at marketing toward young people that has worked with brands such as Starbucks, Chipotle and Hinge.
Aronskind said his app was inspired by interactions he had with family and friends, but its launch was pushed by the increase in at-home cooking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was quarantined with my family and a childhood best friend of mine, and I just had this idea: ‘What if we could share what we were making for our families on the internet?’” Aronskind said.
Roth said he began working on dcdx in spring 2020 and continued his work into the next semester. Similar to Aronskind, Roth was inspired by the shift in social behavior during the pandemic.
“Culturally, [the pandemic] was a very chaotic moment, but I also wanted to do something about it. I thought one of the clear disconnects was this mismatch between organizations and what young people were experiencing and feeling in the world,” Roth said. “At the end of that first semester, we got our first major client, which was Chipotle. From there, one thing kind of fell into place [and] then the rest came together.”
At Vanderbilt, both founders said they were able to explore their professional interests in various ways, which helped them get to their current role. Aronskind, who graduated with a major in economics and a minor in computer science, said he appreciated the breadth of knowledge he gained from studying in the College of Arts & Science.
“Even though I was getting a specific major, it didn’t feel like I had to take a single path. I was really able to discover my own passions because it made me, what I felt to be, a more complete person,” Aronskind said. “When I went to these various networking events, I was really comfortable meeting new people because I had this wealth of knowledge to speak from.”
Roth, who graduated with a major in human and organizational development from Peabody College, said the HOD program gave him the freedom and knowledge of people to succeed in his professional life.
“I did think the way they structured the program — going from the individual person to groups [and] then to organizations — was a helpful flow. It’s about understanding that everything comes back to people,” Roth said.
While both founders had different focuses in their work, they both said they were inspired to pursue their venture because of their entrepreneurial spirits. Both Aronskind and Roth said they encourage students interested in the business space to take action as soon as possible.
“As I’m going to more events, I’m increasingly seeing younger and younger people have ideas. Just get started because you’re going to learn so much, and being naturally curious is an amazing way to be,” Aronskind said.
Roth said a big part of his own journey was being able to go beyond the predetermined paths he found himself surrounded by, emphasizing the power of following one’s intuition.
“People go to career fairs for finance and consulting because these paths are stable, and it feels easy and right to do that. But I also think that’s one of the more dangerous things in life — just following without trusting your gut,” Roth said. “There’s this story about how Peabody Lawn was at first just grass, but then someone started walking across the grass. Eventually people followed it, and now there’s a path they made to do that.”
Both Aronskind and Roth shared they plan to continue building their businesses and working on new projects. Aronskind said he’s particularly encouraged by the amazing work of other entrepreneurs.
“I love surrounding myself with ambitious people who are building incredible things, most of which I don’t understand. Those are the ones that excite me the most,” Aronskind said. “I’m excited to be surrounded by what I feel like are people changing the world.”
