hestia
Meet our co-founders
Hanna Lincoln and Charles Picasso are the co-founders of Hestia. Together, they are building a family-centered space to plan funerals, memorials, and gatherings, with room for each family’s wishes.
Hanna Lincoln
Co-founder and CEO · Berlin
Hanna leads the product, the legal and compliance work, and the company. She studied applied ethics and conflict management, and she cares about one question above all: how to make a hard market fair for the people who have no time to shop around.
Charles Picasso
Co-founder · Nashville
Charles works with funeral homes and the other providers families rely on. He knows the industry from his work in funeral home software, and he is the person providers in Nashville talk to.
The story behind our name
Hestia takes its name from the Greek goddess of the hearth: a place to gather. The stories below are part of our inspiration, with room for every family’s beliefs and traditions.
Read about the name and our inspiration
Hestia was the goddess of the hearth. She had few temples of her own, because she did not need them: her place was the fire in every house, and the public hearth at the heart of every Greek city. When settlers founded a new city, they are said to have carried fire from the hearth of the city they came from, so the new home began with the warmth of the old one.
She was the eldest child of Cronus and Rhea, and she received the first and the last offering at every meal and every sacrifice. The ancient hymn to her says it plainly:
“Without you mortals hold no banquet, where one does not duly pour sweet wine in offering to Hestia both first and last.”
Four things from her story shape how we work.
She stays at the center
The family, not the provider
Hestia belonged to the home, not to any one god’s side. We build for the family in the middle of it all, and we don’t take sides between funeral homes, prices, or kinds of farewell.
First and last
From the first call to the last thank-you
She was honored at the beginning and at the end. We want to be useful from the first hours after a death to the thank-you notes and the quiet months after.
A fire you carry with you
Your family’s own way
Settlers took the old hearth’s fire to their new home. A farewell carries a family’s traditions forward, whether they come from a faith, a culture, or simply the way your family does things.
Warmth, not ceremony for its own sake
Plain words, calm pages
Her fire was for cooking, warmth and gathering. We try to keep Hestia the same: simple, clear, and kind, without pressure or clutter.
The rest of the pantheon
Our company is called Pantheon Platforms, and some of our work in progress carries names from the same stories. They are the figures the Greeks placed around the passage from life to death:
Charon
The ferryman
He carried the dead across the river to the underworld, and the living placed a coin with the dead to pay the fare. His is a story about a passage done properly, with nothing left undone.
Hermes
The messenger and guide
The messenger of the gods, and the one who guided souls on their way. A reminder that the right words, sent to the right people, matter.
Cerberus
The guardian at the gate
The watchdog at the gate of the underworld, who made sure nothing left that shouldn’t. A reminder that private things should stay private.
Elysium
The place of rest
The fields at the edge of the world where the blessed found peace. An image of rest from the ancient stories.
These names describe projects we are working on. They are not products you can use yet. See our brand notice.
And the small flame you see on our pages is our hearth. It marks a page that is loading.
What we promise
Hestia is free for families. No provider can pay to be shown first or to be recommended. We explain every choice plainly and never suggest one kind of farewell is better than another. Read how we stay neutral.
Write to us any time at info@planwithhestia.com. We read every message.
Sources for the stories
- Homeric Hymn 29, to Hestia, and Homeric Hymn 5, to Aphrodite (translated by H. G. Evelyn-White, 1914)
- Hesiod, Theogony (Hestia among the children of Cronus and Rhea; Cerberus at the house of Hades)
- Homer, Odyssey, books 4 and 24 (the Elysian plain; Hermes guiding the souls)
- Aristophanes, Frogs (Charon and his fare)