Authors are often accused of not having much skin in the game. The curators have the most skin because they need to be powered up to upvote content and give Steem. While this is 100% factual on paper, in reality it doesn't matter.
So, similarly, we can say Mike Tyson had no skin in the game, either. It was the people in the crowd, paying the high price of admission for their seat that had the real skin in the game. Even though Mike was risking his face (content creators risk reputation) - the value was subjective and the real value was calculated by ticket sales/total views.
The chicken and the egg. Without the crowd, there would be no event, without Mike, there would be no crowd.
Without content creators, Steem blockchain would be an empty event. Even shitposting is creating something. We have Steem Monsters, but that thrived off from a strong established Steem community. Steem is an action blockchain, and authors are the ones putting butts in the seats.
Bitcoin would be worth about three dollars and fiffy cents right now if it was just Satoshi, Gavin and Roger and a niche group hodling it and no one else did.
We need authors, creators to bring people to upvote. The same way the upvote brings authors and creators.
Wise investors can see that making the Mike Tyson's of the world happy is the first priority. You can't light a fire without a spark and you can't have a boxing match without fighters. So, when we make a move into the future as a community, we should have the creators in mind first, curators second and investors third; without even one of the first two, you don't have the third. Make something badass with great incentives and they will come.
I envision Steem being much more than just a place to create and express yourself, it is already happening.
But in the words of Apu from the Simpsons, mom said: "Never forget who you are" 