Your presumption is that it will be immediately obvious to engineers and product managers at larger and more established firms that your approach is superior to

Your presumption is that it will be immediately obvious to engineers and product managers at larger and more established firms that your approach is superior to their current implementation and whatever was in the roadmap they have presented to senior management. As a result, they will immediately abandon their current approach and any promises to current customers and prospects and copy your implementation. I don't think I have ever seen that happen but you could be the first. I would encourage you to pick a niche to prosper in, one that is most likely to benefit from your approach, and start executing. Your "defense" are business relationships you can establish with customers in your target market--at least for the first few years.