> Option C. Ask people to commit to pay for it:

This is probably the best thing you can do, if you are ballsy enough to do it. Personally I always feel a bit bad/like a con artist/ about going to people and saying "Hey, I totally have this great thing and I will likely be pretty much able to hopefully give it to you in maybe a few months, perhaps a year or so, if you would just buy it right now!" ... that's not a good way to conduct business. (imho)

Now, what does work for this sort of thing (and my conscience) is Kickstarter (and others like it). If you can get a lot of money donated from people who know what they're getting into, then you're onto something.