You need to have STEEMPOWER or have access to someone who has it to be 'successful' on the STEEM blockchain.
Some projects on the steem blockchain I think still requires the backing of the bigwigs because of their kind sir. Nonetheless, it's not a limitation, like you said, Steem Monsters has proven it!
...some projects don't necessarily need financial or upvote support, many a times it's just moral support and attention of the bigwigs. If we must sustain the Steem ecosystem then we need to bridge the "attention" and "access" divide between the whales and minnows.