This evening we’re going to be featured in a Current TV documentary that highlights some of our experiences in the TechStars program.

StartUP takes place in Boulder, Colorado which is becoming a hub for web startup companies.  This story is about Techstars, a mentorship-driven seed stage investment fund, who selects 10 companies made up of young entrepreneurs to join a summer program where they are exposed to many mentors and investors.  We focus on two of the companies in this incredible program, Ignighter & Foodzie. They had the opportunity to meet people like Matt Mullenweg of WordPress to the founders of Photobucket. We hope this inspires any of you out there with an idea and a lot of passion.

It’s been over a month since we launched a new store. We launched the first three to test our site and to work with both producers and our customers to see what they liked and what they didn’t. We have many other producers waiting in the wings, but we’ve held off on launching them all until we finish the development of the front end of the marketplace, so it’s easy to search for and discover products.

If you’ve visited the site in the past week you may have noticed we broke that rule to add a new producer to the Foodzie family. Our fourth producer is Dough-Nut and no, they don’t actually make doughnuts, they are just really “nutty” about making the best cookie dough.

I have to admit adding the Dough-Nut was somewhat of a selfish move for us. We had discovered these cookies when we lived back in Greensboro, NC and were smitten with them ever since. We were desperate for a way to get our hands on them and of course share the goodness with all our customers.

Mary Jean Taylor, the founder and baker at The Dough-Nut, just loved making cookies growing up. Her mom was a homemaker and her dad was an FBI agent. She took the agent path and became a fed for the Office of Labor Racketeering in Chicago, IL. She did this for seven years until she had her first son. She always made cookies for the “guys” in her office and they went crazy for them (much like we did!). After leaving to have kids and realizing she was not going back to law enforcement, she decided to follow her passion and start baking cookies. People that tasted her cookies quickly were addicted, so she decided to sell them full time. Each order is made from scratch, one batch at a time. And she uses her grandmothers scoop to make just the right size cookie.

Mary Jean nails everything from appearance to flavor to texture, which is directly related to her obsession with including only the best ingredients in her cookies. So which cookies are our favorites? Rob aka “cookie monster”, goes crazy over all her cookies but gets particularly excited about the oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip for its heartiness and rich combination of PB and chocolate. Nik loves the classic Chocolate Chip, especially after a quick 10-second zap in the microwave (but if he was stranded on a desert island with no microwave, the Swedish Ginger would be the clear choice!). I on the other-hand am partial to the Swedish Ginger anytime…it’s soft and chewy and goes down easy with a big tall glass of milk. Hungry yet? Ok…go check out her store already!

Please note: Foodzie isn’t hiring at the moment, but we want share an awesome opportunity for others to join the Boulder startup community.

100 software developers get an all expense paid trip to Boulder Colorado to interview with 20 startups. Apply here.

Okay - that was the hook. Now, let me explain it.

Even before Foodzie was accepted into TechStars, we knew that Boulder was an incredible place. At your fingertips you have some of the most majestic natural landscapes in the nation, providing you with world class rock climbing, kayaking, trail running, skiing/snow boarding, and my favorite: cycling.

After moving to Boulder we’ve seen a town with such a positive, balanced culture that it is hard to imagine a better place to live and work. Couple the backdrop I’ve just described with a fast-growing tech scene that is rich with exciting companies and you have one of the best environments for a software developer.

The innovation and collaboration within the startup community in Boulder is impressive. One of the latest examples is the Boulder Colorado Job Fair. 20 startups are banding together to fly out 100 rock-star developers, put them up for 2 nights to show them around Boulder as well interview for jobs with all 20 of the startups.

See below:

Every one of our sponsoring companies is looking for really smart developers and engineers just like you, so they’re contributing to a fund that we use to fly in up to 100 qualified candidates. We pay for your airfare, hotel and transportation. (We’ll also make sure you don’t starve while you’re here.) You’ll spend three days and two nights here in Boulder; one day will be spent checking out Boulder, another day will be spent meeting with all of the sponsoring companies, and yet another day will be spent following up with the companies you’re most interested in. In short, there is no easier (or cheaper) way to explore a really cool town, learn about a bunch of killer startups, and search for your next career change, all in one. Don’t wait to tell us about yourself.

TechCrunch weighs in.

A while back, I mentioned that we spent a week filming with Megan Cotler - a freelance videographer (and super cool chick) who filmed a piece on TechStars for Current TV. Based on the other work she had done and the amount of time she put into getting the right shots with us, I had no doubt it would turn out well. The final video turned out awesome and is such a nice memento to remind us how incredible our summer at TechStars truly was. Thanks Megan for all the hours you poured into the video to help share the TechStars story.

Oh and for all of you checking this out, visit Current TV to vote for this piece. I think if it gets enough votes it might make it onto the Current TV Cable Channel.

Frank Gruber made a trip to Boulder for Tech Cocktail last week and we had a blast chatting with him. He stopped into the Bunker and shot his most recent episode of Somewhat Frank with the Foodzie crew. Check it out!

Foodzie: Online Gourmet Food Marketplace from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

We all love a good cup of tea here at the Foodzie homebase. In fact, it’s one of my favorite ways to wind down at the end of a long day. Which is why I am particularly excited about the 3rd producer we are introducing on Foodzie, Tetulia Teas.

In my opinion, the best teas are also usually the freshest. Fresh teas need less time to steep and are incredibly aromatic. Tetulia teas come directly from their garden nestled against the Himalayas to the North and the Brahmaputra and Ganges Rivers to the South. Their teas range from an organic full bodied black tea to an organic light, delicate white tea. Most of their teas are available loose or in a tea bag.

The cool part is that they not only produce incredible organic teas, but they care about the farmers and the environment too!

The Tetulia Cooperative has established revolutionary education, health and cattle-lending programs for the people working in the garden and surrounding areas. All sales of Tetulia Teas contribute to this mission, helping to better the lives of Bangladeshi men, women & children while rebuilding the local ecosystem. Their tea bags are all biodegradable and the canister is compostable.

So check out their store and all their fabulous tea and support both Tetulia Teas and Foodzie!

Normally I wouldn’t find an ad for a casting call appropriate content for our company blog, but…as a foodie, I believe in sharing my love for food. So I thought I’d help spread the word. The Food Network is looking for terrible cooks who want to be transformed by their team of expert chefs. This casting call is in Denver, CO, but I imagine they are doing casting calls all over the country. See the details below.

We’ve added one more store to our “Sneak Preview” on Foodzie. We are excited to share Boulder Popcorn with you! That’s a picture of us below hanging out with Bill Heuston, the founder of Boulder Popcorn at the Boulder Farmers Market.

Boulder Popcorn has a great story. Bill will tell you that his 10 year-old daughter Cambria came home from school wanting to learn about supply and demand (smart cookie!). So his answer? They started a gourmet popcorn business.

They named the heirloom yellow corn after Cambria (that’s her above with Bill). It’s called Cambria’s Cream and it’s one of my absolute favorites. You’ll find these itty bitty kernels (with no GMOs I might add…) pop up nice and tender and have a naturally buttery flavor. I simply pop them with olive oil and toss with a little sea salt - the rest of the flavor comes naturally from the corn. They also have three other varieties, Ryder’s Red, Kailey’s Kernels, and Mayors Mix.

Typical microwave popcorn is bland and coated with that fake butter flavoring usually leaving you with a “popcorn hangover”. Boulder Popcorn is natural, free of GMOs and totally worthy of downing a whole bowlful. Visit their store and buy yourself a bag or two!

We’re happy to announce that today marks the launch of our first “alpha store”! We’re honored to have Seth Ellis Chocolatier as the first artisan producer featured on Foodzie… you can check out the Seth Ellis storefront here.

You’ll notice that we’ve developed all of the core e-commerce functionality as well as the individual producer’s storefront. As we continue our development throughout the summer and into the holiday season we are going to build a marketplace, additional community features, and other ways for consumers to learn about and share the foods that they discover.

We’d love to hear your initial thoughts, so leave us some feedback in the comments!