@officialbitcash: sorry, it seems we reached maximal comment depth, so I can't reply to your comment directly.

I am not so convinced that advertisers will be interested in Steem. Obvious ad posts will likely be downvoted (by regular users or by competitors).

Regarding the startup analogy, I realized there is something that startups have and Steem does not, though: the eventual promise of (real) dividends, in the long term. I suspect this is a part of what drives the valuations of startups up, even though they often do not pay dividends in early stages.