Yes. I have apps too and I speak in that voice. Even with my low budget and all I know how much I have put into its growth and intend to put, so basically I brainstorm, innovate think of ways to grow it etc as for claims I used to claim accounts slowly and have a few hundreds of accounts waiting for a time when it will be time to have users sign up directly and instantly via my apps than the steem process etc, now assuming I don’t have steem to buy to claim accounts and I have to rent from someone, they would have bought and kept their steem powered up and their own demands grow, they may buy more steem and lock it to let out rc while still maintaining their ability to curate etc
For instance on steem-engine tribes, one has to stake 1 eng per user where eng is bought with steem. Now I don’t have control really at this stage at growth and how many people I want to use the site. The numbers grow on its own and I have no choice but to keep up and buy eng to keep the use of steem-engine running. This is even where I haven’t pursued growth in numbers actively on my own. Where a site owner hits growth in such manner, they will either have to curb entries or go for it and buy sp delegate or innovate ways for their users to buy sp for a level of transactions. While steem is proof of brain, other transactions need sp too like transfers, witness votes so look at apps like blocktrades for instance with many transfers, they need to have sp now to meet the rc requirements for tons of transfers. Besides blocktrades there are other exchanges on steem. Transfers don’t cost so much in terms of rc but who knows how many apps and entrepreneurs steem will attract. Also communities are already made. I saw a recent post saying it will soon be implement. Even on small levels, normal users will adopt a mentality of owners especially when they have communities and admin it and perhaps attach a token to it. So even on small levels without a full blown app, many who now run their communities will now see need to make it thrive, they will look to have their communities members move together amassing sp or start to power up. Where they sell tokens like seen with steem engine, many like to power these dividends up to further growth, curate etc. even in the face of many tokens there is still that appeal to earn the parent token steem in conjunction with other tokens, not only cos of what steem has come to rep but also because it has first mover advantages and is on several big exchanges, somethinh smaller tokens will need time to reach those levels.
Also with smts there will be an internal exchange and more transactions will stay internal. I do think when some tokens hit more publicity, people will likely join steem for the sole reason of using a decentralized exchange, same way as some sign up to exchanges to trade as opposed to create content.