While considering the merit of any given novel idea (and whether or not it should be taken to market) the more meritous one believes their idea to be the more inefficient they must also believe the market to be.

The obviously good idea, if such a thing exists, has already been invented. Implying that novel ideas must be, almost by definition, of non-obvious merit. Of course, any faith in progress relies on the existence of concepts that will in the future be axiomatically accepted as good ideas that do not currently exist or have not yet been executed. Why haven't these obviously-good-in-hindsight-ideas been executed yet? Not because they don't have merit but because every prospective businessperson must contend with the question "If it's a good idea, then why hasn't it been done before?"

Belief in novel merit and market efficiency are inversely proportional. The initially optimistic are usually squashed by the idea of betting against the masses. While the market for feasible novel ideas is not perfectly efficient it certainly does place a tangible cap on the belief that any one idea has obvious merit. The cost of fully developing any concept and taking it to market is very high and difficult to justify for any idea of skeptical merit.

The catch is that all novel ideas are of skeptical, non-obvious, merit.

Despite the vision that we evangelize many titan entrepreneurs to have, novel ideas always have unknown and unrealized value. Perhaps it is quite rational to decide after weighing the opportunity costs and doing the economic calculus that it isn't worth pouring not only economic resources but also your life into what is almost always a speculative idea at best. The entrepreneurs seeking only economic gain are forced to bet against the masses and believe that they are better. A certain level of hubris is required. They have a paradigm of comparison forced upon them by the competitive atmosphere of the free market... continuously trying to gauge how much merit their business has compared to others and how well it will do in the market. For some, this is the game: competition.

For the inventors, however, it is about innovation and creating genuine value; their reasons are not solely economic, they cannot be. They don't seek out beforehand to become such.

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

They have no need to bet against the masses as they aren't worried about being original. For them, the market is but a vehicle. They understand that it is impossible for an original idea to be derived from comparison.

The entrepreneur seeking to be an entrepreneur must find fulfillment in the business itself being the project, existing in and of itself as opposed to simply being the vehicle of a novel idea. Hence what many business students are taught:

The best test of an idea's merit is the reality of the pain being resolved. A good idea does not have to be immense or highly disruptive, although it can be, but it ~must~ resolve an observable pain. If the cost of the solution is smaller than the cost of the pain, no matter how big or small the cost of the pain is, the idea is valid.

For the inventors, this is axiomatic because they don't build businesses that exist for their own sake.

For many of the highly motivated the business building hustle isn't fulfilling on its own. To pursue what is an inherently unproven idea, for economic motivations alone may simply be economically, if not emotionally, irrational. Thinking of time as a resource like any other, perhaps the adage to never speculatively invest anything that can't afford to be lost is an appropriate one. For the entrepreneur and the inventor alike, the hustle itself must be a sufficient reward, enjoyable in and of itself. Time spent working must be squarely viewed not only as a sunk cost but also as a life well spent in the pursuit of the meaningful and interesting.

Best to start as an inventor and become an entrepreneur out of necessity.

When you grow up you tend to be told the world is the way it is and you're just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, and save a little money. That's a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again. - Steve Jobs