When I refer to chicken or egg, I am asking the question of whether a struggling or new company/creator uses what little funds they have to develop a prototype. Companies like to see it, and development of it helps your IP become more valuable. If they don't bite, then you have spent important resources unnecessarily.

Sometimes large companies have a hard time knowing what to do with IP technology [like edig] and prefer to "acquire" these companies when they slightly larger and more traditional. They may pay more in these acquisitions this way, but it sure hasn't seemed to slow things down much.