Martha Stewart is entering the era of AI software in the most Martha Stewart way: she’s joined the co-founding team at Hint, an app that leverages AI technology to manage home maintenance and management tasks. With the Hint With the app, which launches today, homeowners can face challenges related to maintenance schedules and tasks, energy management, learn about their soil and air quality, weigh insurance requirements and more.
It can also serve as storage for various contracts, records and invoices related to the home and its maintenance, which can be searched through the built-in AI assistant.
New York-based Hint co-founder and CTO Kyle Rush says the founder of the home and hospitality empire lives nearby and is “very involved” with the startup, but not a financial investor.
“She’s an actual co-founder with a serious equity stake and she works for the company and the app. She’s not a figurehead. I go about twice a week,” he says. “We sit down and look at the app and he looks at what it says — when it’s wrong for the soil, he’ll say it, and when it’s not right for something about the house … he’ll report it and comment on what I’m designing, the branding and the language. And so, I would say, she’s very involved.”
The startup originally launched in 2024 as a tool to help people navigate decarbonizing incentives related to their home, but they realized expanding its use cases had more potential.
“We really realized very quickly, why can’t this be AI for your home? People don’t really have an app to manage their homes… so we just pivoted,” says Rush.
THE application joins others in the AI ​​ecosystem working to extend AI beyond chatbots to apply the technology to solve real-world problems, while also adding Martha Stewart’s personal expertise to enhance the experience.
To start with Hintusers enter their home address and the app creates a profile of the home from public data, such as property records, weather and terrain information, utilities and more. Users can then upload documents such as inspection reports, home warranties, mortgage documents, contracts, insurance policies, invoices and more.
This data can tell you things about the soil beneath the foundation and how it can affect turf drainage or foundation hazard movement. You can also learn about the air quality surrounding your home, or how climate or drought information could affect the likelihood of flooding, your home insurance rates, or energy use, among other things.
Homeowners then upload photos of the home’s major appliances, which allows the app to guide you through any “how-to” questions or other maintenance tasks.
This can be surprisingly revealing, as many people don’t know about the smaller tasks associated with device maintenance.
For example, you may know to change your refrigerator’s water filter, but did you know that you must occasionally vacuum the coils on certain models to prevent fire hazards? Do you know when to flush a water heater or check the salt level for a home well?
Hint’s personalized home maintenance schedule means you won’t have to remember these things, as it sends proactive push notifications about what needs attention and when. This program evolves with your home, leveraging an understanding of the home itself, its systems and the macro environment.
This is where Martha Stewart’s decades of home management experience come into play as she guides application development in key areas. Plus, homeowners can use Hint to add individual tasks to their maintenance plans—like a reminder to replace a damaged window screen or re-caulk some baseboards, or whatever else comes up.
Hint also provides an overall “home score,” offering an at-a-glance number that tells you how well you’re doing managing your home so far.
Meanwhile, Hint’s in-app AI chatbot lets you ask questions about your home or documents. This means you could ask questions as simple as when was the last time you had your AC serviced or as complex as what you pay per kilowatt hour for electricity or if HELOC it would be a good idea to tap into your home equity.
The app can also guide you through questions related to your homeowner’s insurance, such as whether your deductibles are too high, whether you don’t have coverage, or whether it makes sense to file a repair claim.
Prior to founding Hint, Rush led engineering at mattress startup Casper during its growth phase and was CTO at online retailer Maisonette. Before that, he built technology for both the Obama and Hillary presidential campaigns. Yih-Han Maco-founder and CEO, based in Charlotte, NC, was previously SVP and GM at Red Ventures, a digital media and technology company.
Rush says the idea for Hint came about as he became interested in applied AI technology and how it could be used for the average homeowner in a more practical way. Under the hood, Hint uses commercial libraries, mainly those from OpenAI, as well as Gemini for working with images.
The plan is to keep Hint’s AI intelligence free, but later add a premium subscription that could introduce power user features like managing additional properties. The app currently generates affiliate revenue from its partner network of service providers, which Rush says is firewalled from artificial intelligence, so it’s not biased in its recommendations.
Hint (whose name combines the “H” from “home” with “intelligence”) is supported by 10 million dollars in funding from investors including Montauk Capital, Brian Kelly (The Points Guy), Slow Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Energy Impact Partners, Amplo VC and Hannah Grey.
THE iOS app it is currently available for free with no subscriptions or ads. “We want it in the hands of every homeowner in the country,” says Rush.
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