[hkmurakami]

A friend was in a similar situation (he was in BD at a quant hedge fund) and had been doing research for over a year when he discovered a ~50 person company doing exactly his idea. He cold emailed the CEO, the CEO was surprised that someone in the wild was excited about their esoteric idea, they continued to talk, and said friend eventually joined as their head of product after a few months.

Just saying that this is a route available to you if you're so inclined and your life circumstances allow you to take this path.

[Tzeentch]

What was his idea?