Martha Stewart is embracing the age of AI software in a manner perfectly aligned with her brand, by joining the co-founding team of Hint. This new application, launching today, utilizes artificial intelligence to streamline home maintenance and management tasks. Through the Hint app, homeowners can efficiently manage maintenance schedules, optimize energy use, gain insights into soil and air quality, assess insurance claims, and much more.
Furthermore, the app functions as a secure repository for essential home-related documents such as contracts, files, and invoices, all of which can be easily queried using its integrated AI assistant.
Kyle Rush, Hint’s co-founder and CTO, based in New York, noted that the renowned founder of the home and hospitality empire resides close by and is “very involved” with the startup, though not as a financial investor.
Rush elaborated, stating, “She’s a real co-founder with a serious stake in equity, and she does work for the company and the app. She’s not a figurehead. I go over about twice a week.” He continued, “We sit down and look at the app, and she looks at what it’s saying — when it’s wrong about soil, she’ll say it, and when it’s not right about something about the home…she’ll mention it, and she’ll comment on what I design and the branding and the language. And so she’s, I would say, very involved.” This highlights her hands-on contribution to the product's development and refinement.
Initially conceived in 2024, the startup focused on assisting homeowners with decarbonization incentives. However, the team soon recognized the greater potential in expanding its application to broader use cases for home management.
“We really quickly realized, why can’t this be the AI for your home? People don’t really have an app to manage their homes…so we just pivoted,” Rush explained, detailing the shift in the company's direction.
Hint joins a growing number of innovations within the AI ecosystem that are pushing artificial intelligence beyond conversational chatbots, applying the technology to solve tangible real-world problems. A unique advantage for Hint is the integration of Martha Stewart’s unparalleled personal expertise, which further refines the user experience.
To begin using Hint, users simply input their home address. The app then constructs a comprehensive home profile by drawing upon public data sources, including property records, weather patterns, soil composition, and utility information. Subsequently, users can upload their personal documents, such as inspection reports, home warranties, mortgage papers, contracts, insurance policies, and invoices.
This gathered data offers valuable insights, such as details about the soil beneath the foundation and its potential impact on lawn drainage or structural stability. Furthermore, users can gain knowledge about their home's surrounding air quality, or how climate and drought conditions might influence flood risks, home insurance premiums, or overall energy consumption.
Next, homeowners upload photographs of their primary appliances. This feature enables the app to provide guided assistance for "how-to" queries and various maintenance tasks specific to those appliances.
This functionality can be remarkably enlightening, given that many individuals are often unaware of the intricate, minor maintenance tasks essential for appliance longevity.
For example, while changing a refrigerator's water filter is common knowledge, many might not realize the importance of occasionally vacuuming coils on certain models to mitigate fire risks. Similarly, the app can advise on crucial, less obvious tasks like flushing a water heater or monitoring the salt level for a home well.
Hint eliminates the need for homeowners to recall these various tasks by providing a personalized maintenance schedule and sending proactive push notifications detailing what needs attention and precisely when. This dynamic schedule continuously adapts to the evolving needs of the home, drawing upon its comprehensive understanding of the structure, its integrated systems, and the broader environmental context.
Martha Stewart’s extensive expertise, accumulated over decades of home management, proves invaluable here, as she has significantly guided the app's development in critical areas. Moreover, Hint allows homeowners to easily incorporate unique, one-off tasks into their maintenance plans, such as reminders to replace a damaged window screen or re-caulk baseboards, or any other impromptu requirement.
The Hint app further enhances user engagement by offering an overall “home score,” a quick numerical indicator that provides an immediate assessment of one's home management effectiveness up to the current date.
Concurrently, Hint's integrated AI chatbot allows users to pose any questions pertinent to their home or uploaded documents. This ranges from straightforward inquiries like the date of the last AC service to more intricate ones, such as current electricity costs per kilowatt-hour or the advisability of utilizing a HELOC to access home equity.
Additionally, the app provides guidance on homeowner's insurance queries, helping users determine if deductibles are excessive, if there are gaps in coverage, or if filing a claim for a specific repair is a prudent decision.
Prior to establishing Hint, Rush held the position of head of engineering at the mattress startup Casper during its expansion phase and served as CTO for the online retailer Maisonette. His earlier career included developing technology for both the Obama and Hillary presidential campaigns. Yih-Han Ma, Hint's co-founder and CEO, operating from Charlotte, N.C., previously held the role of SVP and GM at Red Ventures, a digital media and technology firm.
Rush explained that the concept for Hint emerged from his growing interest in applied AI technology and its practical applications for the average homeowner. Internally, Hint leverages commercial libraries, primarily from OpenAI, and utilizes Gemini for image processing tasks.
The current strategy is to offer Hint's core AI intelligence free of charge, with future plans to introduce a premium subscription. This subscription would unlock advanced features for "power users," such as the ability to manage multiple properties. Currently, the app generates affiliate revenue through its network of service providers, a system Rush assures is strictly separated from the AI to prevent any bias in its recommendations.
Hint, a name thoughtfully derived from "home" and "intelligence," has secured $10 million in funding from a distinguished group of investors. These include Brian Kelly (The Points Guy), Slow Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Energy Impact Partners, Amplo VC, and Hannah Grey.
The iOS application is presently available at no cost, free from subscriptions or advertisements. "We want it to be in the hands of every homeowner in the country," Rush stated, emphasizing the company's ambitious vision for accessibility.
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