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.

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.

This week, Megan Cotler, a freelance videographer working for Current TV, has been following us around to learn more about Foodzie and TechStars in general. She’s doing a piece on the TechStars program and what it’s like for the companies involved. From what Megan tells us, the final piece will air in the fall. We are complete novices at the whole video thing (look at the camera, no… don’t look at the camera) and tried our best to just act natural. Megan was awesome and made us feel totally comfortable. I am excited to see how she pulls it all together. Here are a few shots from hangin’ with Megan and the camera.

Megan getting the scoop from me about the Boulder Farmers Market and what was so great about the peaches I was standing in a good 10-15 minute line to get. Do I always look that funny when I talk?

You may recognize this picture from the last post documenting our first sale with Matt Mullenweg from Wordpress. This time notice a sneaky camera in the bottom right corner - Megan captured our first sale on video!

That’s Megan doing some more filming, while balancing herself on a hill (it was trickier than it looks), trying to avoid slipping into the Boulder Creek. She thought the shot was worth it. Yes she’s hardcore!

Filming moved to the Seth Ellis chocolate shop (the funny-looking hairnets were required) where Rick shared his story and fed us lots of chocolate. Megan got a taste for what our job is like and enjoyed partaking in the chocolate sampling.

Sometimes you come to the end of a week and wonder, how the heck did I cram it all in?? This week has been a big one for us. A quick recap.

Monday - Launched our first Foodzie “alpha” store - Seth Ellis Chocolatier. Matt Mullenweg, Founder of Wordpress happened to be visiting TechStars and was our first customer. Thanks Matt! Of course…the Foodzie blog is powered by Wordpress.

There are more pictures of our first sale on his blog. If you haven’t bought any, shame on you! But honestly, they are definitely worth a try. We are huge fans of their organic truffles.

Tuesday - More real customers. Hooray! Thanks to everyone that bought some chocolates from Seth Ellis and gave us great feedback about your experience.

Meetings with great mentors:
- Don Springer, Collective Intellect
- Jeff and Judy Herman, Fuser
- Dave Taylor, AskDaveTaylor.com

Session on Angel Funding with Howard Diamond, Tom Higley and David Hose.

Wednesday - We got started on the right foot with breakfast at The Kitchen with the Ice Box Bakery ladies (which had me craving their cookies for 3 days until I willingly gave in last night).

-Session/Field Trip to Photobucket on scaling your business
-Dinner at Frasca with Jason Mendelson (knew it would be good, but it totally exceeded all our expectations!)

Thursday - We took the advice from our first customers (yes we listen when you share!) and begin iterating on the product. These changes have been made and now our checkout process makes a little more sense.

-Chatted with Brad Feld via video chat (he’s working remotely from Homer, AK) and recruited him to be our artisan food scout in Alaska - more on his findings later!
-Session/Field Trip to Zoll Data on Bootstrapping with David Brown - very refreshing persective.

Friday - It started with a great meeting with the man behind the magic at Frasca - owner, Bobby Stuckey. He is the definition of a true foodie and is a brilliant man when it comes to food. We learned a ton.

-Met with Room 214 about some very cool potential partnerships with Foodzie
-Enjoyed a little Happy Hour of mojitos and guacamole, while meeting with one of the most passionate pork person we know, Chris Wand - who also happens to be an incredible lead mentor for us.

The weeks don’t technically “end” as an entrepreneur, in fact we are headed to the Boulder Farmers Market now to do our weekly shopping and do a video shoot with Current TV. Ahhh…the life of an entrepreneur.

In a little over a month’s time the Foodzie team has left our corporate jobs behind, sold a car, put a house up for sale and moved from North Carolina to Colorado. As we discussed in our post, Better in Boulder, the reason behind all of this is that we were selected to participate in a program called TechStars.

Without a doubt, TechStars has helped to change the trajectory of our company. Over the past month, we’ve had the fortunate opportunity to meet and work with some of the most proven entrepreneurs and business people in the country. As a result, we’ve been able to refine the concept behind Foodzie and accelerate the development of our marketplace.

I’d like to share this video that highlights many of the great moments we’ve had here at TechStars over the past 30 days…

I also want to take this opportunity to thank the other TechStars companies for all of the energy that they contribute, the TechStars directors and mentors for the tremendous insight they provide, and Andrew Hyde for capturing many of the great moments that we’ve all shared over the past month.

Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to sit down with Brad Feld, a Director of the TechStars program and a great mentor to our company. At the tail end of our meeting, Andrew Hyde the Community Director for TechStars dropped by and posed a couple of questions to Brad about this year’s TechStars companies, and also asked us how the first three weeks have gone.

Check out the podcast, Brad Feld with Foodzie.

One of the startup tips we learned from David Cohen that helps you to be successful with your business is the idea of “scratching your own itch.” It’s certainly something that resonates with the Foodzie team, because as foodies ourselves we feel like there isn’t a good place out there to discover products from small artisan food producers. The marketplace we are building will solve our own problem. I find that a lot of small food producers tend to do the same.

Two Moms in the Raw is a local Boulder, CO producer who makes raw granola and crackers. Shari, the owner, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and after exploring all options, she looked to heal and improve her condition naturally. Shari believes that food in its natural state without all the additives and pesticides is what the body needs to heal and feel good. Shari is on a raw diet and because of these changes has continued to see her condition improve.

When she looked for raw snacks that she could take on the go, she couldn’t find much, thus Two Moms in the Raw was born! She makes several varieties of granola and crackers and sells them at the Boulder Farmers Market. The booth always seems busy so it seems as though Shari is not only just solving her own problem, but a lot of other people’s too.

If you don’t know what my passion is yet, here’s a hint. When I tried to write a blog post about being passionate, all I could think about was passion fruit. Yes, I am sort of obsessed with food.

When I was a junior in high school, I came home one afternoon and caught an episode of Oprah that was all about finding what you’re passionate about. For some reason it flipped a switch in me and I was determined to find my passion. At the time I was in AP Chemistry with an incredible teacher who fueled my love for science. I was interested in chemistry, I was good at it - so for the next 3 years, chemistry was what I was passionate about. I went on to go to school at Virginia Tech and studied chemistry for the next year or so, until I thought about turning chemistry into a career. I wasn’t very excited about any of the opportunities that were ahead for me. And now looking back, the “passion” I thought I had for chemistry was really just more of an interest. Passion, I found out, is more than just being interested.

Someone once gave me a good piece of advice, “Pay attention to the things you look forward to doing when you get out of work or school and maybe that’s the thing you really should be doing.” I put off my homework to spend time in the kitchen cooking, reading food magazines and tasting new things. Something told me I should be doing more with food. I thought food writing sounded like the right path, so I quickly jumped into Communications, grabbed a minor in Food and Nutrition and started my own food column at the school paper. It wasn’t long before I realized I was truly passionate about food. With some advice from an editor named Kathy Kitchens (yes that is her real name!) from Cooking Light Magazine, I went and took some culinary courses. She said if you want to be a food writer, you need to be an expert in food and know how to write, not the other way around. So I went and took some courses and continued to do some freelance work and in the process realized that I loved food, but needed to be doing more than just writing (I like having my hands in many things). I went on to work for a gourmet grocery store chain doing brand management and eventually e-commerce. All along the way I was involved in tasting panels and was always very closely tied to the food.

Today I am the co-founder of Foodzie and of course it is all about good food. I’m passionate about sharing great products with other foodies and I’m passionate about helping small food producers grow their business and sell more of their wonderful products. The days are long as an entrepreneur, our days average around 16 hours, but I really enjoy every minute of it because this is the stuff that I love.

Earlier this week, Todd Vernon, the CEO and Founder of Lijit and a TechStars mentor, asked us if we would come do some “Reverse Mentoring” for his daughter Darby and her friend Emily. The two of them are working at the Lijit offices this summer and Todd is trying to immerse them in the startup culture at an early age. I hope that the insights I provided them on how we got to this point with our startup was somewhat helpful (I am completely a rookie at the whole mentoring thing…). But hopefully if they remembered just one thing, I hope they think about finding something they’re really passionate about. As cliche as it might sound, when you embark on a startup, where there’s tons of work, lots of risk and long hours, being passionate about what you do makes the process a whole lot more fun!

Read this post listening to “I got rhythm” performed by Ella Fitzgerald. Or not.

A small piece of advice that our mentors have given us on more than one occasion is to develop a rhythm. It can be a huge boon when starting a company. It can help track progress, it helps create an flexible structure that will stick with you longer than you might imagine once it’s established. This advice really resonates with the Foodzie team.

While we haven’t adopted all the agile practices, we do have a scrum every morning at 8:00 am. We each get 5 minutes to talk about what we accomplished the day before, we talk about what we will get done today, and we also talk about anything that’s holding us up. We all get on the same page. Our priorities are shared among all three of us, and we help each other whenever possible.

We also celebrate. Each day we celebrate when someone gets something done, even if it’s little, such as writing a certain number of blog posts.

This keeps our confidence up, our goals in line, and keeps us accountable. I’m not sure how we’re going to scale this out, but I’m sure we can find some people to help us when it’s time. For now, it’s working great.

It’ll be interesting to look back in a year and look at how our rhythm has evolved.