Heroku started in 2007 with 3 founders and was acquired by Y-Combinator. It originally had an online code editor and only worked with Firefox. Over time, Heroku expanded its functionality through add-ons like backups, databases, performance monitoring, custom domains, and more. Deployments are done through Git pushes and can be managed on mobile through the Nezumi app. Heroku provides a higher level of hosting awesomeness compared to alternatives like Dreamhost and Slicehost.