# Hint launches AI app for homeowners with Martha Stewart as co-founder > Source: > Published: 2026-07-29 17:13:36+00:00 [Martha Stewart](https://www.marthastewart.com/274830/the-martha-timeline?ref=runtimewire), [Yih-Han Ma](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yihhanma/?ref=runtimewire) and [Kyle Rush](https://www.codecorp.us/our-team/?ref=runtimewire) officially launched [Hint](https://hinthome.com/?ref=runtimewire) nationwide on July 29, giving homeowners an AI assistant that organizes property records, maintenance schedules and the paperwork accumulated around owning a home. The [free iPhone app](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hint-home-intelligence/id6758353765?ref=runtimewire) is available in the US, while Hint's website says an Android version is coming later. The launch puts Stewart inside the product, rather than simply lending Hint her name. [TechCrunch reported](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/hint-a-new-ai-startup-co-founded-by-martha-stewart-offers-an-ai-assistant-for-homeowners/?ref=runtimewire) that Stewart owns equity, works on the app and is not a financial investor. That operating role gives Hint a founder story built around three different forms of experience. Stewart spent decades turning homekeeping knowledge into books, magazines, television and merchandise. Ma, Hint's CEO, previously ran home-services businesses at Red Ventures. Rush, the CTO, led engineering at Casper, served as CTO of Maisonette and built technology for Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Hint's central bet is that this mix of consumer trust, home-services knowledge and product engineering can create a daily interface for an asset people still manage through inboxes, filing cabinets and urgent calls to contractors. ### Building a memory for the home A Hint user starts by entering an address. The app builds a profile using public records and information about the property's age, weather, soil, utilities, climate and flood risk. Homeowners can add documents, photos and property details, including inspection reports, warranties and appliance manuals. The AI assistant can then answer questions against that information. Hint says it can identify seasonal maintenance, flag expiring warranties, explain upkeep, assess the urgency of repairs and help a homeowner evaluate insurance, utility and contractor decisions. Hint calls the document layer its Property Historian, one of four core features listed in its [July launch announcement](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260729392198/en/Hint-the-Always-On-Home-Intelligence-Platform-Co-Founded-by-Martha-Stewart-Launches-Nationwide?ref=runtimewire). The others are Personal Home Advisor, Proactive Management and Personalized Commerce. The product grew out of a narrower idea. Hint began in 2024 as a tool for navigating home decarbonization incentives, [according to TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/hint-a-new-ai-startup-co-founded-by-martha-stewart-offers-an-ai-assistant-for-homeowners/?ref=runtimewire). The founders expanded the scope after seeing a larger problem in the lack of software for managing the home itself. Rush summarized the pivot with a direct question: "Why can't this be the AI for your home?" His own experience supplied the product thesis. After buying a house, Rush said he realized homeowners had no practical owner's manual. Hint is designed to become that manual while updating itself as the homeowner uploads documents and records new work. Hint's [privacy policy](https://hinthome.com/privacy-policy/?ref=runtimewire) says the service uses AI and machine-learning tools and works with AI service providers. Hint's differentiation therefore rests on the property data, expert guidance and user-specific history assembled around those tools. General-purpose AI is available to competitors; the persistent record of a particular home is the asset Hint can deepen over time. ### Martha Stewart supplies more than distribution Stewart has spent her career packaging expert judgment for a mass audience. Her first book, "Entertaining," was published in 1982. Martha Stewart Living followed as a magazine and television program, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public in 1999. Hint applies the same formula to software. Stewart's knowledge can shape recommendations, while the app delivers those recommendations against the details of an individual property. Her involvement also gives Ma and Rush an acquisition channel that most seed-stage consumer apps cannot buy: immediate recognition among homeowners and an established association with home care. Recognition will get Hint downloaded. Retention depends on whether its document answers are accurate and its repair guidance earns trust when real money is at stake. Advice about a refrigerator filter carries limited downside. Guidance about an insurance claim, foundation movement or home-equity borrowing demands a much higher standard. Hint's website still labels the product "HINT Beta," a useful description of where the product sits despite the nationwide launch. The app is entering homes before Hint has proved that a broad AI assistant can reliably cover the full range of maintenance, financial and project decisions the founders have placed inside it. ### The advice and the business model Hint says the app is free in the US on the Apple App Store and that premium features will be introduced later through a future subscription offering, according to its [launch announcement](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260729392198/en/Hint-the-Always-On-Home-Intelligence-Platform-Co-Founded-by-Martha-Stewart-Launches-Nationwide?ref=runtimewire). Pricing and timing have not been announced. Hint is also building Personalized Commerce around home-service providers. Hint's [launch announcement](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260729392198/en/Hint-the-Always-On-Home-Intelligence-Platform-Co-Founded-by-Martha-Stewart-Launches-Nationwide?ref=runtimewire) says its recommendations operate independently of commercial relationships. That separation will define Hint's credibility. The product is asking homeowners to rely on its judgment about whether a quote is fair, which provider to hire and whether an insurance or utility offer makes sense. Commerce referrals place Hint close to the transactions it is evaluating. The founders will need to make the boundary between advice and monetization visible inside the product, rather than merely describe it in Hint materials. Data practices carry similar weight because Hint asks users to upload sensitive records about their homes and finances. Hint says it never sells user data, shares it only with permission and does not use it to train AI models. Its [privacy policy](https://hinthome.com/privacy-policy/?ref=runtimewire) says AI systems may process personal information for maintenance, insurance and utility optimization, and repair referrals. It also says information may be shared with relevant providers when a user selects services such as insurance options or repair referrals. The distinction depends on clear consent and careful product design. Homeowners must understand when information stays inside their private home record and when a request sends it to a commercial partner. ### A $10 million bet on the homeowner interface Hint [announced its $10 million seed round](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260512987617/en/Martha-Stewart-Announces-Hint-a-New-Home-Management-Platform-Built-on-Human-Expertise-and-AI?ref=runtimewire) on May 13, more than two months before the app's nationwide release. [Slow Ventures](https://slow.co/?ref=runtimewire) led the financing. [Montauk Capital](https://montaukcap.com/?ref=runtimewire), which incubated Hint, joined alongside [Tusk Venture Partners](https://www.tusk.vc/?ref=runtimewire), Amplo, [Energy Impact Partners](https://www.energyimpactpartners.com/impact/?ref=runtimewire), [Hannah Grey VC](https://www.hannahgrey.com/?ref=runtimewire) and Brian Kelly, founder of The Points Guy. Hint did not announce a valuation. The capital is backing a push to own the homeowner relationship before service marketplaces and other home-management apps establish the default AI interface. Hint enters with a credible founder trio and a product broad enough to touch maintenance, insurance, utilities, renovations and contractor referrals. That breadth creates its opportunity and its execution burden. Stewart, Ma and Rush are asking homeowners to place the memory of their largest asset inside Hint. If the app earns that position, it can become the starting point for a long list of high-value household decisions. Each recommendation must prove that Hint works for the homeowner first.