The Potato Press

Purpose

The Potato Press is how the Potatuhs ecosystem gathers intelligence. It publishes surveys (like the AI Sentiment Survey) targeting industry professionals, collects responses through Formspree, and turns the data into actionable insights. Every seasonal objective includes a market research component — The Potato Press is the instrument for that research.

Stack

What I Learned

• The Potato Press runs on the simplest possible stack: static HTML pages built with Vite, deployed to Cloudflare Pages, with Formspree handling survey submissions. No React, no Next.js, no database. The surveys are HTML forms. The results go to Formspree. The site loads in under a second. For a survey/publication site, this is the correct architecture — any complexity beyond this would be over-engineering (see: ijustgotanidea.com).
• Survey design is a skill distinct from software development. Question ordering matters (easy questions first to build momentum), question types matter (multiple choice for quantitative data, free text for qualitative), and leading questions poison results. The AI Sentiment Survey on The Potato Press was carefully sequenced: demographics first, usage frequency second, sentiment third, open-ended fears and hopes last.
• Formspree as the submission backend means zero server maintenance for data collection. Responses arrive as structured data that can be exported to Google Sheets, analyzed in Python, or read directly in the Formspree dashboard. The brettowers.com contact form now uses the same Formspree project — shared infrastructure across Potatuhs properties.
• Market research is the third objective in every seasonal cycle (after releasing the next version and adding new content). The Potato Press is the tool that executes that objective. For Potatuhs: online shopper research. For Potatocore: audience/viewer research. For Hot Potato Games: community feedback. For Potato Literature: user-submitted content interest. Each division feeds research through the same platform.

Key Insights

• Naming the research arm "The Potato Press" gives it journalistic credibility while staying on-brand. "Press" implies publication, reporting, investigation — all of which are functions the platform serves. It is a research lab wearing a newspaper hat. The name gives permission to publish findings, conduct surveys, and operate as a legitimate information-gathering entity within the Potatuhs ecosystem.
• Survey data is the most undervalued asset a small brand can build. When you know — from actual data, not guesses — what your audience fears about AI, what products they would buy, or what content they want more of, every decision improves. The Potato Press turns Potatuhs from a brand that guesses into a brand that knows. That is the difference between marketing and strategy.
• The Potato Press was the project where the Formspree integration was first built — the same integration now powering the brettowers.com contact form. Infrastructure built for one property migrates to others. This is the ecosystem advantage: every investment in any Potatuhs property potentially benefits all Potatuhs properties.