[setgree]

A few thoughts:

* If I were interviewing you, I'd be concerned about whether you could take orders from a supervisor, and, more generally, work well with people that you didn't hand select. (Side note: are you good at those things, OP? It's ok if you're not, but it should frame your search). Is there a way you can take on a project where you aren't the boss?

* Have you processed the grief and loss over your previous startup, and are you really ready to jump back in to another thing? I'd wonder this if I were interviewing you, thinking that maybe you were looking for a rebound job but didn't really have your heart in it. Not sure how you would assuage that, except for taking some time off and working on some personal projects, ML-related or not.

* How much work would it be to turn your IP into an arXiv paper and accompanying well-documented repo? My own bias: I would look very favorably on this kind of work, because it shows 'public-midnedness', if you will. Bonus points if you can co-author with someone and not be first author (to point #1 above).

Good luck!