I've been learning, using, investing and spreading the word about Steem for the passed 7 months. After all this time, I'm still fascinating by it, and by what it will become.
Steem started as a blockchain oriented toward social media and blogging, but in time it has changed into something else. It keeps the potential of user growth the social media has, but it will be a potential gold mine for investors as well. At least that's how my biased mind sees it.
There are two elements currently existing on the Steem blockchain which are highly beneficial to the development in the ecosystem, and to the investors alike.
On one side, there are the beneficiary rewards, which help projects pay for future development and costs of operation. They are enticing developers to work on improving the product and be rewarded from their user base activity.
On the other side, we have another powerful tool called delegation, which an investor can use to "buy a stake" in a project which rewards him/her in some way for the delegation. This is how most usually projects get their initial "power".
Of course, delegations are more than investors' tools, they can be used for non-profit purposes too, only to support a project or a person or a community you think deserves it.
But as investors' tools, both beneficiary rewards and delegations are already producing results and we see a thriving ecosystem with many DApps being developed and serious STEEM stakers behind them.
I believe this to be only a preview of what's to come, but looks like a clear direction.
Smart Media Tokens are due to be released at the end of Q1 in 2019, and we already have projects announcing their plans to issue such a SMT.
These projects, and the new ones which will join them soon enough, will need investors. In my opinion, lots of them with a minnow-to-dolphin Steem Power! And some with an orca-to-whales Steem Power, as well!
Investors will not only eye projects which will have their own SMTs. In fact, it is very likely they will be very interested in projects which will make the Steem blockchain and the entire ecosystem better, increasing the value of their investment on the long term in the process. We have just had an excellent example these days, with the launch of the User Authority and the massive support which it received.
Even though Steem already has over 1 million accounts and over 100,000 accounts active ones, I think these investors will come before mass adoption. And we don't even need an ICO (or an IPO) to get them here. Because they can buy STEEM right now, and they can have a stake in this platform. And they become investors in a working "product", with over two and a half years of history. Here's an interesting image, via 
