"I would aggressively field competitive offers from substantial qualified co's in that business to partner with me, run the project, and earn a major stake in the discovery."

How would you know that you were searching competently?  Would you rely on potential partners to tell you, or would you hire an expert to help you with that?  There are experts out there performing executive searches.  Might you not inquire of them, or at least look into how they do their work?