DAVID ROTH founded and serves as the managing partner of Get Stirred Up and its sister company, Innovestment Partners LLC. He brings nearly 25 years of experience in both new venture creation and brand stewardship.
Get Stirred Up’s launch in 2007 coincided with the parent company of Cold Stone Creamery’s acquisition of David’s last venture—the popular quick-serve franchise, Cereality Cereal Bar & Café, where he served as founder, CEO and chairman. At Cereality, David gained much notoriety for taking on the $11 billion cereal industry and creating an entirely new retail/foodservice model, proving its viability in multiple channels—from university settings to downtown business hubs and airport venues. He also orchestrated key strategic funding and/or branding alliances with a variety of high-profile corporate partners, including Quaker Oats (a division of PepsiCo), Mars, Got Milk?, Old Navy, Dodge, and others. In 2006, Cereality was named “Experience Stager of the Year,” the coveted award presented annually to one organization in the U.S. by the authors of The Experience Economy.
David’s circuitous career path weaves together his training in human development, his penchant for building brands, and his acumen for selling a “big idea.” Prior to launching Cereality, he ran a brand consultancy based in New York and Boulder, following time spent as an associate publisher at Random House (for their Fodor’s and Mobil Travel Guide divisions), a special sections contributor to The New York Times, a custom publishing business development consultant for Time-Life Books, and the founder and publisher of the food and travel publication, Palate and Spirit. David began his career working with Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank on internal and external communications around M&A transactions and employee relations/sensitive issues management, following a stint in the human resources department at Lotus Development Corporation (just following its IPO) that coincided with his graduate studies.
One of David’s first new ventures was created early on in his career, when he decided to leave corporate communications to focus on the food and travel category, his personal passion. He did so by launching the first magazine ever focused on culinary travel, Palate and Spirit. The quarterly, large-format and high-design publication received much critical acclaim and featured an esteemed collection of renowned food journalists and cookbook authors. It quickly became the leading aggregate of culinary learning adventures around the world—from cooking classes to culinary tours and gastronomic and wine events at hotels and resorts. It was also the first publication to feature a one-on-one interview with Julia Child on the impact travel had on her life and career, accompanied by a collection of personal photographs that she had never before made public.
David holds an M.Ed. from Harvard University, which he earned following interdisciplinary undergraduate studies at Hampshire College, vocal training at New England Conservatory of Music, and psychology and social science coursework at the University of Washington.
