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Two twenty-something founders just raised $2 million to build your personal Jarvis. Unlike most AI assistant apps that overpromise and underdeliver, this one might actually be worth your attention.
Martin, a new AI personal assistant developed by a Y Combinator-backed startup, offers more than just a polished interface built around ChatGPT.
It aims to be a true digital partner, proactively managing your daily chaos and freeing you to focus on what matters most.
Martin’s backstory reads like a Silicon Valley screenplay: Two barely-old enough-to-drink founders (Dawson Chen and his co-founder, Ethan Hou) meet each other when they’re both practically broke.
Chen had been working on Martin for a year with “negative 50% month over month growth” (yikes), while his future co-founder had two weeks of rent money left.
Fast forward through some classic Silicon Valley magic, and they’ve just landed two million in funding to turn their Jarvis dreams into reality.
But here’s the thing – it actually works. As someone with ADHD who regularly drowns in a sea of 150+ daily emails, forgotten tasks, and missed calendar events, Martin has become my lifeline.
Let’s talk about what this thing can actually do. At its core, Martin is like having a super-organized friend who’s weirdly good at juggling all your digital stuff.
Need to find that one important email buried in your inbox? Martin will dig it up. Got a bunch of tasks that need scheduling? It’ll handle that too.
But where it really shines is in the little details – like how it proactively identifies emails waiting for your response or how it can give you personalized briefings about your day.
I customized my Martin to create what I call my “triple assault” reminder system—having it call, text, and email me about important tasks.
Sure, it might seem like overkill, but for my ADHD brain, it’s exactly what I need to function like a normal human being. The fact that Martin could be configured to do this speaks to its flexibility as an assistant.
The interface is intentionally simple – almost suspiciously so. But underneath that minimal design lies a surprisingly powerful system that integrates with everything: email, calendar, Slack, SMS, and even good old-fashioned phone calls.
Yea, you can have Martin call people or places on your behalf. Speaking of calls, I may or may not have been using Martin to call my wife and confirm things, which she finds absolutely hilarious (and slightly annoying).
The real magic happens when you start using Martin across different platforms. You can text it like a friend, email it like a colleague, or call it like your actual assistant.
During my testing, I’ve had Martin schedule meetings, manage my to-do lists, send follow-up emails, and even make calls on my behalf.
It’s particularly impressive when handling multiple tasks at once—like simultaneously managing your calendar while keeping track of important emails and sending you reminders about that report you promised your boss “first thing in the morning” three days ago.
And unlike other AI assistants that feel like they’re just spitting out pre-programmed responses, Martin actually learns your preferences over time. It remembers how you like your meetings scheduled, which emails you typically flag as important and even adapts its reminder style to what works best for you.
Price-wise, the standard plan is $21/month (billed yearly) and includes the basics like inbox and calendar management, Slack integration, and the ability to have Martin text and call people on your behalf.
The Pro plan ($30/month) adds some fancy features like premium AI models, email pre-drafting, and what they call “long-term memory of you”—which sounds either amazing or terrifying, depending on your preferences.
What’s next for Martin? The team is working on something they call “background tasks”—imagine your AI assistant handling entire email threads for scheduling meetings without you having to lift a finger. Web automation is also on the horizon.
Is it perfect? Not yet, but it’s consistently doing the right thing for the most part. The calling feature is still in its early stages, and sometimes, the whole “my AI assistant will call you” thing catches people off guard.
But unlike many AI startups that seem to be rushing to cash in on the hype, Martin’s team appears to be playing the long game.
They actively seek user feedback (you can literally tell Martin to pass along your complaints), and they’re surprisingly transparent about their development process.
For $21 a month, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than hiring a human assistant and probably more reliable than your well-meaning but forgetful friend who “totally won’t forget” to remind you about that important meeting.
Martin offers a seven-day free trial at trymartin.com. For anyone drowning in digital chaos or just tired of dropping the ball on important tasks, it might be exactly the assistant you’ve been waiting for.
What are your thoughts on having Martin as your digital assistant? Could it boost your productivity? Share your opinions in the comments, or join the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter.
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