I get that if you don't try, you won't succeed, hence my questioning here, as a way to jump start myself, perhaps.
It does sound a little silly, doesn't it. Here's some guy claiming to have all these ideas in a notebook, but he's obviously not trying to do anything with them, or they wouldn't just be in a notebook.
I have developed mass market consumer electronics for many years, for large companies. I simply want to continue to do that, for myself. I know, from actually doing it for many years, that $100K is very cheap, and $300K is normal, by the time you get plastics designed, molds tooled, PCB's and components purchased, etc. As your complexity goes up from there, so do your costs. Then it's time to actually go buy components, arrange shipping, and have the thing manufactured. Some things do not bootstrap. You either write the check or you don't, period.
These products will not change the world. They're not revolutionary, and frankly, the world will get by just fine without them. But there is money to be made from them, as people will buy them.
So, here I am, with experience and ideas, but a strong feeling that I can't close the deal, based on a lot of reading that I've done.
The best thing you could do if you have really been reading carefully is to get started on building what your idea is. And VCs may not be what you need - if you really believe the products would sell you could try bank/credit card loans etc.
It is not as if there was no entrepreneurship before VCs came into picture. With or without VCs, with or without certain degrees from certain schools, entrepreneurs will always be there and keep finding ways to chase opportunities they believe in.
It does sound a little silly, doesn't it. Here's some guy claiming to have all these ideas in a notebook, but he's obviously not trying to do anything with them, or they wouldn't just be in a notebook.
I have developed mass market consumer electronics for many years, for large companies. I simply want to continue to do that, for myself. I know, from actually doing it for many years, that $100K is very cheap, and $300K is normal, by the time you get plastics designed, molds tooled, PCB's and components purchased, etc. As your complexity goes up from there, so do your costs. Then it's time to actually go buy components, arrange shipping, and have the thing manufactured. Some things do not bootstrap. You either write the check or you don't, period.
These products will not change the world. They're not revolutionary, and frankly, the world will get by just fine without them. But there is money to be made from them, as people will buy them.
So, here I am, with experience and ideas, but a strong feeling that I can't close the deal, based on a lot of reading that I've done.