Yup. That works. Just don't forget the follow-up, where external feedback is crucial.
Shameless plug: I've written my own crypto library¹. Not just for the lulz, I fully intend to use it in production. To do that, I had to disregard the crypto community, that basically says anyone who does that deserves to burn in Crypto Hell the time it takes them to count to 2^256. (I might exaggerate a tad).
They say that for a reason however. I had to seek and listen to external advice eventually. Which, judging by the holes they poked through my library, was invaluable.
I think there are two phases. The "I'll show them" phase where you hide under your cave doing your thing, and the phase where you actually show some results and confirm whether this was a worthwhile endeavour.