many companies do only what you had raised as a question, the thing is, a patent takes far more time to be granted than you can afford to wait to go to market and start selling.

Here, you might find something interesting on this video http://videosift.com/video/How-I-Beat-A-Patent-Troll-Drew-Curtis-TED-Talk

When you want discuss go to market strategies and selling world over, I will be interested in hearing you out (will all due deligence and Non Disclosures)