I see the same thing in ideas for research papers. I have lots of ideas I think are great, the trouble is it takes a year to do the grunt work to prove my idea

I see the same thing in ideas for research papers. I have lots of ideas I think are great, the trouble is it takes a year to do the grunt work to prove my idea right, and then even if it's right it may not be marketable to my scholarly community. So, it becomes obvious really quickly that it's better to find someone who's succeeded in the market (here has a good CV) and either work on their ideas or get them to certify yours and guide you through the work. Maybe I would change Paul's analogy around a bit and imagine a beach full of pyrite and gold sand. Certainly you wouldn't say sand is worthless; some of it is gold. A random shovel full probably is approximately worthless though, to get real value you'd need a talented prospector.