Fair question. Both for Steem-based businesses and a majority of the crypto/blockchain-space. I agree with you that there is a long way still to go for Steem-based projects to develop, implement and scale proper business models that enables growth not limited by the rewards pool. For me, the main motivation for creating the Steem Business Alliance in the first place was exactly that, to help existing projects who has the intention to build sustainable businesses with developing and executing functional business models that bring value to Steem.
I do, however, not think that it is necessarily critical for all Steem StartUps to have a traditional working business plan early on. The last 10 years have been a repeated story of social app StartUps reaching multi-million or even billion-dollar valuations before earning anything. More pragmatic investors chose not to invest in those now well-known companies for that reason. So I think the lesson is that you can use the first years to first build and improve your product with an early userbase, then grow the number of users, before starting to capture value on those assets to create a revenue stream. Point being, as long as there is a strategy for how to get there, it is fine not to be a “typical business” in the early stages. I think what we’re seeing is quite typical when there’s a lot of developers in the Steem-ecosystem and very few experienced entrepreneurs. My hope is that the SBA can help bridge that gap.
Speaking for myself, we certainly have a plan for a revenue model outside of the Steem-based rewards that I hope to announce soon.
If you have any suggestions for business expertise within the Steem community, or ways in which we can/should attract more of that talent to the blockchain, then I am all ears.