Google Consumer Surveys (http://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/home) achieves a similar end for a surprisingly low price, and they've figured out all the boring details like how to poll a representative sample of the US internet population and how to get stats right.
Disclaimer: I work on the product. I think it'd be pretty useful for startups to gauge the market.
Sounds like a really interesting product, and something we'll definitely check out, but to be very clear...interviews != surveys.
In terms of customer discovery and problem identification, absolutely nothing beats interviews. Surveys may have their place when it comes to getting demographic information or validating a market size, but interviews should not be replaced with surveys.
Wow, I somehow missed that the original article was about interviews despite it being all over the article. I think I read it earlier in the day but only came back later to comment on it and forgot that important part. :( Thanks for being polite about my error.
Disclaimer: I work on the product. I think it'd be pretty useful for startups to gauge the market.