Yes, I think Steemit has proven that account size is not necessarily a guarantee that someone will act in the platform's best interest. They act in their own best interests over that of the platform, which is why the content on Steemit's trending page is junk, fueled by bidbots, fueled in turn by large stakeholders selling their votes for maximum self-interested return. The same economics will work but will progressively create a bigger mess. Account based voting is probably better than stake-based. I'd agree that higher curation rewards might help prevent some of the negative effects.
If you need the funds, you can ICO it or raise funds over time on Steemit by posting good content that gets voted up. The latter could be combined with an airdrop, which is sure to get you some fans.
Got it - looking into Steem-UA now. Thank you for your feedback!