I think for me this is the biggest question. Is it worth trying to get involved with something where there are N people who know more, move faster and have better connections that I do? I think the case for 'no' is pretty convincing.
BTW, your formatting is messed up, don't indent the points.
My POV = trading is zero sum (or worse, because transactions take money, and brokers are a guaranteed to win 3rd party in every transaction)
However, I don't think thats the right analogy.
Every trade in trading is like the credit card transaction you make towards Dropbox every month. That transaction is zero sum (with Amex skimming 1.7% and Spreedly taking some too, just like brokers). I buy a stock, for an agreed upon price.
Dropbox gets nothing if they don't provide value to the marketplace. You don't get customers in trading if you don't provide value to the marketplace. Every dropbox competitor takes dollars out of dropbox's pocket (so in that sense is zero sum across strategies). Every trade I take from Citadel is a trade they don't make.
There's lots of money flying around, its a big pie, I just want some crumbs.
Basically, startups get paid because they fill a market need.
Traders get paid because they fill a market need. If I create a strategy that nobody wants to trade against, I'll have no customers, make no trades, and will never get paid.
I'm not saying there aren't sketchy strategies (true in finance and web startups). I'm not on top of the whole flash orders story, and I think some people take advantage of weaknesses in the system. Thats true in every industry though.
BTW, your formatting is messed up, don't indent the points.