4) Short answer: make something people want so much that they would rather have your product than their money.
Long answer: Ignore other entrepreneurs and start looking for customers. What you want to do is get face time whenever feasable. Find out how they can possibly get by without your great system and do your best to determine where that solution is letting them down or making them suffer. Adjust your idea accordingly and present it to them. There's usually some politics involved in any significant purchase so try and find out things like which people really stand to gain and lose when your customers adopt your product. Then try and find ways that will turn the losers into winners. Be sure and validate your assumptions about who the decision makers are for the kind of product you're planning by finding out what else those people bought into or vetoed in the past. Stay focused and do your best to really verify the market for your system is there.
Long answer: Ignore other entrepreneurs and start looking for customers. What you want to do is get face time whenever feasable. Find out how they can possibly get by without your great system and do your best to determine where that solution is letting them down or making them suffer. Adjust your idea accordingly and present it to them. There's usually some politics involved in any significant purchase so try and find out things like which people really stand to gain and lose when your customers adopt your product. Then try and find ways that will turn the losers into winners. Be sure and validate your assumptions about who the decision makers are for the kind of product you're planning by finding out what else those people bought into or vetoed in the past. Stay focused and do your best to really verify the market for your system is there.