I'm no expert either. I think EOS did a great job with distribution. I think public mining was a disaster. Proof of Brain with somewhat high inflation would have done a decent job coupled with a lengthy auction of STEEM like the one EOS had. People have incentive to be early adopters as there would only be a short high inflation period and those with deep pockets would actually have to pay for their stake and more demand they create, higher the price would be for Proof of Brain crowd. Nothing is perfect. But that would have made things better.

Also a faucet that reward people for http://steemitboard.com achievements would have been nice too. That's just my suggestion.