Very good article on steem @whatageek, but here is some of my understanding :
Steemit is unique to rest of the crypto currency and the coin will not die completely as its backed by a huge platform. Once every user of reddit will know about steemit, they will probably switch completely to steemit.
Secondly as you said, users and their engagement is very much essential for steemit to grow. For that it becomes utmost requirement to help minnows.
Any new user will definitely not invest, unless and until he will understand the actual concept behind steemit and how it works. So initially they need help from whales with reward and great articles.