Have what it takes? Start thinking about Summer 2008.

TechStars will be accepting applications for the Summer 2008 program starting in late January, 2008. The application deadline will be in late March, 2008. TechStars will run from May 27 to August 22, 2008. We’ll announce other important dates when applications open in January.

We had a great time with TechStars this past summer, and can’t wait to do it again. We’re making some minor improvements based on the feedback from our 26 founders from 2007, but they told us loud and clear not to change too much. It’s been a blast to watch these companies raise investment rounds, deal with early acquisition offers, and build their teams and their products beyond the summer. They’re forever in a fraternity that will continue to help each other and stay in touch.

The key to TechStars is the deep level of engagement offered by our awesome list of experienced mentors. So, we’re ramping that up as well, adding even more folks to get directly involved with our next batch of companies. We’re psyched about how many great serial entrepreneurs have stepped up to help the TechStars companies, and it looks like it’s only going to get better.

We’ll look for your application starting in January at TechStars.org. We’ll also be launching an updated web site around that time to include even more information about the program, our past companies, and the meaning of the universe. Until then, let us know if you have questions or thoughts.

A fourth TechStars company from this summer has received angel funding, joining EventVue, MadKast, and SocialThing. Now, Search To Phone has closed on an angel round as of this past Friday. Their product allows you to record your voice and broadcast a specific search request to relevant local merchants simultaneously, saving time and effort.

Since I first met the guys behind Search To Phone, I’ve been saying it’s like 411 for “what” instead of “who.” If you’ve ever used a local search site or the yellow pages to find multiple vendors for a very specific need, you’ve probably had to make multiple calls. Each time you had to repeat yourself, and often the company you had reached couldn’t do exactly what you needed. Search To Phone really helps automate category based searches for things like plumbers, flowers, contractors, and as Carmin proved at investor day, even Elvis impersonators.

I recently used SearchToPhone to track down a vendor for some very customized buttons for trade shows. This was a very small order that only a small shop would even consider fulfilling, with custom shape and size requirements. I recorded the query just once, and it was broadcast to dozens of merchants. Only two accepted the query, and both had already understood the requirements and timeline before they were anonymously connected back to me. This probably saved me an hour.

I was psyched that Carmin and Sebastian were able to get this round done. As Carmin tells the story, he was sitting under the Hollywood sign wondering where his next meal was going to come from when he got the call from TechStars. They had spent all of their money building the Search To Phone prototype and financing it by couch-surfing and working from a car. They weren’t sure what they were going to do next, but they were trying to figure out a way to stay in business and strongly considering selling star tour maps. I think this story is a bit exaggerated (not the part about the car, maybe just he Hollywood sign), but I can honestly say that these guys have no quit in them.

Search To Phone can work with searches originated from online properties or service directories, and is actively looking for partners in this space. It can also work as a replacement or enhancement of directory assistance services. You can play with it right now by visiting SearchToPhone.com or by calling (800) 547-2811. Give it a whirl and let the guys know what you think.

Congrats are due to SocialThing, which is the third TechStars company from this summer to announce follow on funding.

Ben, Brian, and Matt showed up in Boulder this summer with a truly enormous vision. They spent the summer building prototypes and refining that vision. What they’ve ended up with is a very interesting approach to what some call digital life management. At first glance, SocialThing appears to be a cousin to a simple profile aggregator. But this just scratches the surface. You tell SocialThing about your various digital identities, and it adds a layer of intelligence to the social sites you’re already using. This allows you to do interesting things like synchronize friendships across sites, port your friends to new sites, synchronize content across sites, etc. Rather than trying to be the “next” social network, SocialThing just tries to improve the best of class stuff you’re already using on a daily basis.

It’s been a blast to work with the SocialThing guys, and I know they’ll continue to be passionate about improving the experiences of heavy social users on the web. It should be exciting to watch their initial open launch in a few months.

Intense Debate is a TechStars company that has a plug-in replacement for the comment system on your blog. It adds threading, reputation, tracking, aggregation and other cool features to your blogs comment system. It also enables readers to do stuff like follow the comments of their friends, track comments across sites, and more. TechCrunch has a nice post on Intense Debate, and we discussed it in more detail a while back as well. Perhaps the easiest way to get the idea is just to comment on this post, since we’re using it on this blog.

Intense Debate is still in private beta but is quite stable at this point. They’ve just given me five invites to give out to bloggers. Hurry and drop me a note at david at techstars dot or if you’d like one for your blog. They’re still madly collecting feedback, so you can help them shape the product by trying it out early.

Amid all the Facebook hype, TechStars can tell you from first hand experience this summer with Philadelphia-based J-Squared Media that there are ways to make money in the Facebook economy.

In fact, J-Squared Media is currently featured in Business Week in an article titled “Who Wants to be a Facebook Millionaire?” In that article, Jesse and Joe talk about the recent acquisition offer that they turned down, and why.

Tevelow and Aigboboh know how this sounds. “My mom thinks I’m crazy,” Tevelow says. “She can’t believe there are million-dollar deals coming in and we’re saying no.”

J-Squared Media now has 4 million Facebook installs of the Sticky Notes application with a quarter million users sending at least one sticky note each day. A few weeks ago, the guys launched their second Facebook application, GlitterBox, which already has more than half a million users. GlitterBox is already in the top 60 applications on Facebook (of more than 5,000 apps, Sticky Notes is number 32) as measured by engagement.

If you’re interested in the story of J-Squared, or the Facebook platform, give the BusinessWeek article a quick read.

MadKast has recently closed a $300,000 seed round, making it the second TechStars company (EventVue) from this summer to receive further funding. The investment was led by EonBusiness Venture Capital and several angel investors from California and Colorado participated as well. There’s a little more coverage on TechCrunch and Tech Rockies. Brad has a great writeup of MadKast on his blog as well.

Both MadKast and EventVue will be at DemoGala in Denver this Thursday. If you’re going, be sure to check them out.