Absolutely enjoyed this thread, thought I would add some food for thought when it comes to "the little guy" which is 99% of us. You either have time or you have money (big $). If you have much more time than you have money then focus it on what will get the best returns with little risk.
The existing drop catching services offer you little risk, but you have to put in the time to research what is worth going after. You can dream all day, all week all month, all year long how you are going to join the big boys even though you don't have anywhere near the $ or the experience to actually pull it off and as you spend your time dreaming you are allowing the main leverage that you have to go to waste: time.
The juicier days seemed to have passed, but there are waves here and there that you can catch if you continue to show up and grind away. I used to be able to count on 10+ decent names a day, these days it's closer to 1-2 on average, but that is still stacking wins and it is 1-2 more than I would have had if i just sat around wasting time.