Martha Stewart Unveils Hint, the AI for Home Management

Martha Stewart Unveils Hint, the AI for Home Management

Martha Stewart is stepping into the era of AI software in the most authentic way possible: she has joined the founding team of Hint, an app that uses AI technology to manage tasks related to home maintenance and management. With the Hint app, launching today, homeowners can tackle challenges related to maintenance schedules, energy management, learn more about soil and air quality, assess insurance claims, and much more.

The app can also serve as a storage solution for various contracts, files, and bills related to the home and its upkeep, which can be accessed through the integrated AI assistant.

Kyle Rush, co-founder and CTO of Hint, based in New York, notes that the founder of the hospitality empire lives nearby and is "very involved" in the startup, but is not a financial investor.

“She is a true co-founder with a serious equity stake, and she works for the company and the app. She’s not just a figurehead. I go to her house about twice a week,” he says. “We sit down and review the app, and she looks at what it says — when it’s incorrect about the soil, she points it out, and when it’s not accurate about something in the house… she mentions it, and she comments on what I design, the branding, and the language. So, I would say she is very involved.”

The startup initially began in 2024 as a tool to help people navigate decarbonization incentives related to their homes, but realized that expanding its use cases had more potential.

“We quickly realized, why couldn’t this be the AI for your home? People don’t really have an app to manage their homes… so we just pivoted,” explains Rush.

The app joins others in the AI ecosystem that seek to extend AI beyond chatbots to apply technology to solving real-world problems, while adding Martha Stewart's personal expertise to refine the experience.

To get started with Hint, users enter their address, and the app builds a profile of the home from public data, such as property records, weather and soil information, utilities, and more. Users can then upload documents, such as inspection reports, home warranties, mortgage documents, contracts, insurance policies, bills, and more.

This data can provide insights into the soil beneath the foundation, and how it may affect garden drainage or the risk of foundation movement. You can also learn more about the air quality around your home or how climate or drought information could impact flooding potential, your homeowners insurance rates, or your energy consumption, among other things.

Next, homeowners upload photos of key appliances in the home, allowing the app to guide them through “how-to” questions or other maintenance tasks.

This can be surprisingly revealing, as many people are unaware of the small tasks related to appliance maintenance.

For example, you may know that you need to change the water filter in your refrigerator, but did you know that you sometimes need to vacuum the coils on certain models to prevent fire hazards? Do you know when to drain a water heater or when to check the salt level for a home well?

Hint's personalized maintenance calendar means you won’t have to remember these things, as it sends proactive notifications about what needs attention and when. This calendar evolves with your home, relying on its understanding of the home itself, its systems, and the macro environment.

This is where Martha Stewart's decades of experience in home management come into play, as she has guided the development of the app in key areas. Additionally, homeowners can use Hint to add one-off tasks to their maintenance plans — like a reminder to replace a damaged window screen or re-caulking certain baseboards, or anything else that comes up.

Hint also provides an overall “home score,” offering a figure that indicates how well you are managing your home so far.

Meanwhile, the integrated AI chatbot in Hint allows you to ask any questions related to your home or your documents. This means you could ask questions as simple as when you last had your air conditioning serviced, or as complex as what you pay per kilowatt-hour for electricity or whether a HELOC would be a good idea to tap into your home equity.

The app can also guide you through questions related to your homeowners insurance, such as whether your deductibles are too high, if you lack coverage, or if it makes sense to file a claim for a repair.

Before founding Hint, Rush led engineering at the mattress startup Casper during its growth phase and was CTO at the online retailer Maisonette. Prior to that, he built technologies for the presidential campaigns of Obama and Hillary. Yih-Han Ma, co-founder and CEO, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was previously SVP and GM at Red Ventures, a digital media and technology company.

Rush explains that the idea for Hint stemmed from his growing interest in applied AI technology and how it could be used more practically for the average homeowner. Behind the scenes, Hint uses commercial libraries, primarily those from OpenAI, as well as Gemini for image work.

The plan is to keep Hint's AI intelligence free, but later introduce a premium subscription that could add features for advanced users, such as managing additional properties. The app currently generates affiliate revenue through its network of service provider partners, which Rush says is isolated from the AI so that it is not biased in its recommendations.

Hint (whose name combines the “H” from “home” with “intelligence”) is backed by $10 million 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 is currently available for free without subscriptions or ads. “We want it to be in the hands of every homeowner in the country,” Rush states.