I think many people such as myself (biotech scientist) fail to see how far we have to move away from the "cutting edge" in order to attract interest. A basic researcher thinks nothing of investing 3 years of labor into something that might work, because if you look at it this way and also that way, then it means the other, etc, etc.

The time horizon for VCs is much shorter than that. If your idea is not working now, then you have very little chance of getting investment.