I found out about ETH back in May when it was $11, I heard about it previously but didn't do anything till then. Back in May, ETH was hyped like crazy. No one could say a single bad thing back then because there was no ETC, No DAO hack etc... There was so many Ethereum fan boys who lash out the minute you even bring up a tiny concern about security, scalability etc...
Also I didn't care that I was buying from people who potentially bought at less than $1 and are making 10x profit, I just cared about LONG TERM potential based on MY situation. The price went to $20, I didn't sell at the peak but made some nice profit before market lost confidence. It will have a year long bearish market next year just like BTC did 2 years ago and then it will moon. There is no doubt in my mind that if the whole DAO and ETC shit didn't happen, ETH would be mooning along with BTC now and $20 would be considered CHEAP.
What does all of this have to do with ICN?
1- many people will dump when it starts to play around in $1-$5 range or $6-$10. But A LOT more people will buy at that time due the fact it has gone up in the first place!! Majority of people only act when a coin is being pumped because its confirmation bias and to them its a 'safer' investment. low risk = low reward
2- ICN devs are masters of their own destiny now. They literally have it all in their hands. They are the only ones who can mess it up from now on because it seems the whole community is on their side. My concern to be honest is they will rush the OFM platform which may lead to high security risk or glitchy website that always looks and feels like it is in beta testing. I was excited at first that OFM will be released sooner than we expect, but now I would much rather if they are more patient and release a platform that is 100% secure and tested.... Otherwise, the first news of any sort of uncertainty and then it is game over and move on to the next hyped up thing. Sure, there will be loyal followers, but the majority of investors (not just in crypto but in general) will dump instantly at the first news of uncertainty. I'm going to ask them about this at next AMA and fucking hope they don't rush this so we don't have a fucking ICN Classic!
Your concerns are genuine. But I think ICONOMI team is well prepared to handle any issues as they have good track record and experience. True supporters of ICN will need to hold on to their holdings.
I do remember those days when ETH was supported by a lot of people and you would face a firing squad if you voice something against ETH.