Hi @reggaemuffin,
This is a great initiative and if we are to be thought of us a truly decentralised platform, we need more than one core development team (currently Steemit Inc).
It may be worth speaking to the users on the @dolphincouncil as they are likely to be receptive to your idea and provide some support.
Unless we find some very generous core developers, willing to work for free or a few upvotes, we also need to think about how we fund core development. For example, taking a portion of rewards form anyone using delegated steem to upvote (controversial.. yep!). But ultimately, there needs to be some form of funding.
I have joined your discord channel and will keep listening.
Thanks for your efforts,
@kabir88