It's not pessimism, it's realism. You do stuff for $.10 on the dollar every day? What is $.10 on the dollar for a $10million project? How long would $150k last on your projects, especially if you have to start from scratch? You guys have already paid for your accreditation, infrastructure, and whatnot. You can't forget about that stuff. My point remains that $150k does not last long in a research environment. You work for "The Man." That stuff has already been taken care of. I know, because I used to work for a company that did custom research and development with over 2000 different products. We sold to the military, NASA, food grade products (including Kosher), and medical industries. I guess I don't know anything about government agencies.
"Hey guys, I discovered the properties of this material by melting it in a frying pan. We were able to reproduce the results with all two people working here, so it's all cool."