[fakedang]

I think the easier route has changed now. This advice was definitely true 10-15 years back, but I think now the entire sector is open to startups.

I would advise that startups team up with a larger player who can actually win contracts as a prime, and push out product together with them. It's sort of the middle ground between contracting and going alone. So I would suggest starting straight from #2 above up to #5. The biggest con is that you're completely dependent on the big company for survival, so you'll have to make them equally enamoured and dependent on your tech/product.