People often use multiple apps for notes, schedule management, and to-do lists. However, why not combine them all into one app? This is the underlying philosophy behind Hero, an all-in-one productivity app that features an AI assistant.

The iOS app was developed by former Meta employees Brad Kowalk and Seung W. Lee. Both Kowalk and Lee met while working on Facebook stories, with Kowalk serving as the product manager and Lee as an engineer. Kowalk also worked on new AI experiences at Meta until 2022.

“When we started working on a new project after leaving Meta, we didn’t want to work on something that felt like we were helping people waste time. Instead, we wanted to create something that helps people save time,” Kowalk said.

So far, the company has secured $4 million in seed funding from notable investors, including Instacart founder Max Mullen, Dropbox founder Arash Ferdowsi, Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer Scott Belsky, Meta’s VP of Messenger Ime Archibong, the Chainsmokers, and venture firms Neo and Abstract.

Mullen, who met Hero’s co-founders through another investment, expressed his enthusiasm for the app, stating that he believes people will eventually abandon multiple apps like calendar apps, reminders, notes, and weather apps.

“There will be two categories of apps in the near future. A blank slate chat app like ChatGPT or Google Gemini and the one that shows your day. This app will bring your whole day into one place and will work with your friends and family, featuring an intelligence layer on top of it. We want to be that app,” Kowalk said.

He pointed out that when users switch between multiple apps, there’s a chance they forget what they meant to do and open social media platforms like TikTok or YouTube. He also noted that couples and individuals who have just finished college are drawn to this app over traditional productivity tools like Google Calendar.

The app is free, and the company plans to maintain this pricing model.

Currently, users can tap on the Instacart icon in the grocery list to search for all items and place an order. The company takes a cut from those transactions.

Kowalk stated that this is the area for monetization the company wants to focus on going forward.

Hero is currently working to improve the voice interaction with its AI assistant, build a habits and goals tracker, and add a feature to add events, to-do lists, and notes from an image or a screenshot.