Ask HN: What do you do with big ideas?

I have a few good ideas, and one that's really good.

One of the good ideas can be implemented while still keeping my job, because it requires relatively small amount of resources/time to get started. It's far from original and won't make me rich, but it will give me valuable experience. My plan is to try it and see what happens.

The really good idea can become a huge success, but also fail completely because it depends on many things that are out of my control. I'm saving that untill later.

I have spent a lot of my time contemplating "big ideas" both when I was a PhD candidate (various set theory proofs, signal processing ideas) and in my own software (machine learning methods and application to gambling etc) and I find that mostly thinking about this stuff is just mental masturbation. I typically found some flaw later on and I would have been much better off with more manageable problems that gave more direct, smaller, higher probability of success profits. Basically, I think if you don't have the resources to implement it, it's not a good idea for you. Of course, if you have some amazing insight into a hard problem (how many $$$$$ problems are out there that haven't had serious attention from seriously smart people?) then you can build a prototype and seek funding but I would be very very cautious.