Blair Brandt - Founder, The Next Step Realty

Blair Brandt grew up in Palm Beach, Fl and went to boarding school at Deerfield Academy. Brand graduated early from the University of Richmond in 2010. Blair's entrepreneurial endeavors began when he started a laundry business in college and sold the company for a sizable profit to another student. His first job after graduation was as an assistant to a top luxury real estate broker in Palm Beach, Fl - Christian Angle, who became Blair's mentor. Brandt started The Next Step Realty in April 2010 after experiencing frustration as a young real estate broker and ultimately finding success when he helped out a friend who had graduated from Rollins College and moved to the West Palm Beach area. Brandt also received an inquiry from a friend at Denison University looking to move to Manhattan, and then decided with Co- Founder Belton Baker to survey a large network of friends at college and brokers in major cities. Their results showed that not only would a college grad real estate company benefit up-and-coming rental brokers looking for experience, clients, and revenue, but would also significantly streamline and ease the post-collegiate apartment hunt for a graduates first real-world apartment as a young professional in an urban environment.

Since founding Next Step in April 2010, Blair Brandt has been featured on Bloomberg TV and has contributed on multiple occasions to The New York Times. He was voted as one of the Top Entrepreneurs under 25 by SawyerSpeaks and Brobible.com, and by Palm Beach Illustrated as one of the Most Influential People from his hometown, Palm Beach, Fl. He has been invited to speak at Harvard University's annual "Life after Harvard" seminar, UPENN's Wharton School of Business, and Deerfield Academy's "Pathways", which brings together the school's most successful alumni to share their experiences with current students. He has also been invited to the White House on numerous occasions to lend his feedback to the White House Business Council, and is currently working on growing the Next Step Realty's core rental process, but also expanding the brand into other outlets including entertainment, TV, and fashion.

He currently works in between the company's offices in Palm Beach, Fl and New York, NY, in addition to traveling the country as the company promotes its website to parents of undergrads and college seniors on various target campuses.