> I'm working on my own idea, and pitching directly to members of the industry that I've chosen to apply programming to.

Isn’t this just called sales/bizdev/gettingcustomers? Ideally you can fund your business from sales to adventurous customers who are willing to put up with you still developing the software. This I think is sttictly better than selling to investors and then your customers.

Customers both provide more valid feedback and sttonger validation of your idea than investors ever could. They also have more skin in the game.