The two people you describe are experts in their fields and dedicated themselves to that small area.
They share a lot of common ground - both work on software solving a common problem, that really just needed one person to dedicate themselves to fully understanding the problem and to do a very high quality job.
Neither has had particular commercial success through doing that, but both have excellent reputations that they are now able to leverage.
If you those are your role models, you need super-expert knowledge and dedication. And, some means of supporting yourself to do that - Wickham's work fits alongside his PhD and professorship, and Otwell has been taking one day a week from his work.
They share a lot of common ground - both work on software solving a common problem, that really just needed one person to dedicate themselves to fully understanding the problem and to do a very high quality job.
Neither has had particular commercial success through doing that, but both have excellent reputations that they are now able to leverage.
If you those are your role models, you need super-expert knowledge and dedication. And, some means of supporting yourself to do that - Wickham's work fits alongside his PhD and professorship, and Otwell has been taking one day a week from his work.
Tough. Good luck :)