No, since the big hard project might require lots of money to do. Normally, money has strings attached (must be paid back, must give equity in a company with p

No, since the big hard project might require lots of money to do. Normally, money has strings attached (must be paid back, must give equity in a company with potential for liquidity, etc) which restricts what you can do. Do you think pg could have started YC w/o his ViaWeb $$? Or could tlb start AnyBots? Sure, you can work on stuff like that in your spare time, but huge projects usually require a bigger commitment than fits into spare time. Not having to sacrifice time or focus on earning money gives you a whole lot more to throw at a problem.