No IPO, no apologies: Kuba Jewgieniew on building a global brand without going corporate

‍This article originally appeared on HouseWire, read the full article here.

Founder Kuba Jewgieniew credits culture and innovation for Realty ONE Group’s 20-year success and global reach

For Realty ONE Group founder and CEO Kuba Jewgieniew, 2025 was a special year, as it marked the 20th anniversary of his founding of the firm.

“It is still a family business, supporting other family businesses and entrepreneurs with our agents and team leaders, and we really are one big family,” Jewgieniew said. “Since day one, we’ve held true to our core values that everyone matters and everyone has a voice.” 

It is through these values that Jewgieniew said the company everyone knows today was formed.

“We always encourage and challenge our real estate agents, as well as franchise owners to give us a reason to take action,” he said. 

Culture is primary driver, not an IPO

This commitment to culture is a primary driver of why the company has never done an IPO, according to Jewgieniew.

“There is a lot of corporate talk and a corporate approach in the industry right now, and we approach business by focusing on caring for our clients and supporting the success of our real estate professionals, and I believe that is one of the big differentiators,” he said. 

In Jewgieniew’s view, this approach has helped his firm with agent and franchisee retention, and also has fueled the global growth of Realty ONE Group, which is now in nearly 30 countries worldwide. 

Building a global brand

“When I started, I never wanted to be a local, regional or even national real estate company. I like always being curious and having these wild dreams, so I wanted to be a global brand, but I knew we had to do it at the right time with the right team,” he said. 

These puzzle pieces began falling into place a few years ago, Jewgieniew said, when the right combination of new talent and veteran leaders — some of whom have been with the firm for nearly two decades — came together. While he and the team are continuing to focus on Realty ONE Group’s international expansion in 2026, he noted that the firm’s technology platform and proprietary coaching business are other areas they are looking to put in some work in the coming year. 

“We spent time this year overhauling our proprietary technology platform, and we just rolled that out at our annual event last month in Miami. The team working on it is actually our biggest team internally now, along with our marketing and branding department,” Jewgieniew said. “It is a significant upgrade, and it ties together our entire ecosystem — not just digitally — but locally as well, because we are always going to be a brick and mortar shop.” 

When it comes to the coaching business, Jewgieniew said he is excited about his firm’s recent announcement about its relationship with Brian Buffini, as well as their ongoing relationship with Tony Robbins, as he cites the two of them as his biggest inspirations both in life and in business. 

Given all of the noise currently surrounding the real estate industry, as well as the milestone year for his firm, Jewgieniew felt like 2025 was the perfect time to formally bring Buffini and Robbins into the Realty ONE Group family, and he said he is excited to see where things go in the coming year. 

Too much noise in the industry

Reflecting on the past year in the real estate industry, Jewgieniew said he isn’t surprised by all of the noise. 

“That noise has always been around and it has always been a boogeyman,” he said. “A while ago it was the iBuyers, then it was the NAR settlement, and there are always these unforeseen things, but you can’t get distracted. The noise pulls you away from your signal, and it is dangerous for your mindset, your motivation and your momentum.”

Due to this, Jewgieniew said he feels it is incredibly important for him and his firm to stay focused on the Realty ONE Group culture and perfecting the things they know they do well. 

“I think this will enable us to not only win, but to be dominant in the years to come,” he said. “There is this tremendous momentum right now, and we have everything in place to win.” 

Excited about the competition

But Jewgieniew is aware that the competition in the flat-fee brokerage space is ramping up, still he feels confident in what Realty ONE Group has to offer. 

“Bring It!” Jewgieniew said of the increasing competition. “With what we have learned and proven over the past 20 years, we are probably at least a generation ahead of any new 100% commission model that is just starting up. But we don’t want to be naive because, at one point, we were a young company trying to prove our model among these older traditional legacy brands. They didn’t take us seriously, and we aren’t going to make that mistake and be blindsided. We are going to watch and learn and maybe get inspired.” 

In Jewgieniew’s view this increasing competition is a good thing both for the industry and his company, as he feels it pushes everyone to stretch their limits and do better. 

“We are ready for next year,” Jewgieniew said. “We are calling this our new era for the next 20 years and we just want to keep running our business but at an even bigger scale.”

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This article originally appeared on HouseWire, read the full article here.