> There just isn't any path for that to happen in reality.
Sure there is. I can give a good argument, with solid, original applied math in PDF from Knuth's TeX (not LaTeX) and with running code.
Even if I'm wrong, or get run over by a truck tomorrow, for you to be correct means that forever no company will achieve my claim. Forever is a long time!
As I give a good explaination, soon it gets totally obvious. I wouldn't be doing this project or saying this otherwise.
Do lots of people see the opportunity? Nope. With a little explanation, everyone on HN will see the problem right away. In a sense, they see the problem now. But they ignore or reject the problem because, like death and taxes, they see no solution. Like you, you see no possibility. Even if I blurt out the problem here on HN, essentially no one will see the possibility of a solution. So, now, when they see the problem, since they see no possibility of a solution, they ignore the problem.
But the solution is not trivial. I don't see a solution without my applied math. The core of the math is some solid, significant theorems and proofs. The main prerequisites are some advanced pure math topics. The prerequisites are totally, fully, beautifully written up and on the shelves of the research libraries, but the material is not popular in the US. Fewer than 10% of US math profs know this material. Some of what that material says is amazing, and nearly no one would think of it on their own -- apparently no one ever has. I got the material from a prof a star student of a prof at Princeton, and I got it from some books by some star students of a prof at Berkeley. It's solid stuff.
For the $1 T, see some of my other posts to this thread. How to do that? First, start with the idea that essentially everyone on the Internet has the problem and currently it is solved at best poorly. That there could be such a problem is not surprising -- the Internet doesn't yet do everything people want! You will see this problem and how people have ignored it as I announce my beta test on HN. The alpha test is in progress now.
For a little more, so, as you know, there are ballpark 3 billion people on the Internet, if we include smartphones, which for my solution we should. But for good ad rates, I intend to count only users in the more developed countries. There my gross, ballpark figure of number of users is, in round numbers, 1 billion. If you have a better number, then let me know.
Okay, when you see the problem and my solution, you will maybe willing to swallow that, early on users will come to my Web site once a month, then, after some weeks, once a week, then as they start to really like the results, see how to use them in their life, in their family, with friends, for work, etc., they may come to my site, rough, guess, ballpark, average 3 times a week.
Really, that's about enough for $1 T: If can get 1 billion people to come to a Web site 3 times a week for nearly anything, should be able to monetize that to biggie numbers. Add in some more ballpark details, and get to $1 T.
For some more details and the actual arithmetic, see
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15287990
> > it is obvious that the problem is pressing to nearly every Internet user in the world
> I should imagine the VCs hear that every week too.
"Hearing" it is not the point. A claim, like essentially all significant claims, is worthless. In math terms, that's just the statement of the theorem. To be taken seriously, there must follow a proof. Same in law, finance, engineering, etc. -- need evidence.
Lots of people here at HN have advised me to get my descriptions of my project much shorter, including down to just a few words on just one line. In that case, the description is just, say,
$1 T Quickly
So, that omits all the evidence. Some people want evidence; some people want just the bottom line. IMHO, VCs mostly want a product they can play with or better, still, traction, in particular revenue, better still, earnings, and for all of those, significantly high and growing rapidly.
An entrepreneur who starts has none of those. So, there should be ways to know long before earnings significantly high and growing rapidly. And, in nearly all of applied science and engineering, there is. For just one example, there is GPS: It was funded long before the satellites were on the rockets and on their way into orbit. It was funded off paper, just paper. And, given the paper, the project was, really, low risk.
I've explained my project to VCs. They don't want to read. I can explain on paper in lots of detail, but they won't read it. Indeed, they won't read anything from a guy like me because they won't read unsolicited e-mail.
The bottom line of this situation is that by the time I have what the VCs want to write a check, I will no longer need, want, or accept their check. I can do this because I'm a sole, solo founder with tiny burn rate, opex, and capex so that any revenue of $10,000 a month or more gives me and my project all I should need to go for the $1 T.
My main point here was to respond to the OP and warn HN readers.