Being able to delegate to projects or new users on Hive is one of the great things we can do on Hive to help the eco system grow. Delegating too early however could impact your growth and what makes no sense.
When I joined Hive back in March 2018 I had 0 Hive to my name and have since accumulated a decent size of Hive Power. This is an ongoing process of growth and will take years before I am comfortable with my stake if that is ever possible as enough is never enough.
What I have noticed and it is not a criticism is how many new accounts delegate a fair percentage of their Hive Power to various projects. This may be a noble deed but have you thought about how much this may be holding your Hive growth back? You are better off to the community if your account is stronger as you can provide more support to everyone else including delegating.
I only started to delegate once I had grown to a point where that delegation would not impact my personal growth. This took around 3 years before even considering to delegate as having a vote value supporting others just seemed more important. Maybe being a bit more selfish when you start out is the right way to think as the end result is to play a role in others growth through your support.
Many accounts I have seen voting haven't even got to the magical 1c in value and are already delegating to various projects. Personally I find this pure madness as your vote is a tool to grow and should be used to benefit yourself and others along the way.
When you have little value and are trying to grow you have 2 tools in your armory being your comment and replies along with the vote. Having a vote that registers some type of value is going to make you stand out more than someone who is registering a 0.001 vote value. This is basic common sense and many haven't considered the damage they are doing to their growth by delegating far too early.
Stake grows stake and Hive is no different as you earn via curation and the APR being offered (around 3%). My way of thinking maybe different to the majority of users as the thought behind a vote should be to reflect you have actually voted. My lowest vote is still a 10% vote (32c) as it shows the appreciation for a comment and is a way of saying thankyou for taking the time to respond.
I guess what I am trying to say here is the sooner you start to grow and can see the growth the better your experience will be as you will enjoy it far more. This just doesn't make sense delegating too soon as this will stunt your growth holding you back taking longer to achieve set goals and targets. You are more useful to the others around you the more you grow as you provide more support through your vote values.
I would like everyone to be successful on Hive as this is great for the eco system if everyone is growing. Give yourself a chance to grow first as you are in many ways handicapping your growth. Hive is a tough challenge when you are first starting out and by delegating too soon you are making it even more difficult to succeed.