Completely agree with your post, anyone has a chance on Steemit and you're not completely dependent on the whales to be able to grow in my opinion.
It's pretty easy here on Steemit to start building your network, even members who've just started will get upvotes if they just add some useful discussion in the comments.
Plus, we're still in early adoption phase, so people who have just a couple of STEEM at the moment may soon be the whales ;)