Community, zero fees, fast transactions, web based, it's a functioning blockchain, no C++ blockchain dev required
Community
The heart of what makes building on Steem successful is the community. There's thousands of people here. There's 50k active daily accounts according to @penguinpablo and his reports. And you can find them. It isn't just some random reddit page. There's a whole app for sharing posts called Steemit and then there are the Discord and Telegram communities where all these folks live.
The PALnet community , https://minnowpond.org, alone has 20k Steemians all in one place. These teams gather, the witnesses gather, and devs talk. You can actually find people! So, if you want to launch a project in the crypto world and are asking "where will I find people that want this?" look no further than the Steem ecosystem.
Zero Fees
In a game that you might want to play you could make 50 transactions in a day. Move this card, buy that gun, start this game, whatever. If every time you have to do something it costs you $1-2 that adds up fast. Now it's a money sink before you even get to playing or owning anything. Who wants that?
Steem is a zero cost blockchain. To get the ability to do anything here you have to stake some Steem as Steem Power that you can't remove for 13 weeks, but when you're done with it you can sell it back. it's not like it's gone as with gas and ethereum.
Fast transactions
Back in December I tried buying and selling a little ETH. It was awful. Transactions sometimes didn't go through even with max gas and it was slow. Bitcoin bugs the shit out of me. I gotta wait how many hours? And don't get me started on fiat wire transfers. Fuck those guys. Even in crypto it can be a pain in the ass to know when transactions are processed, but not Steem.
Steem has 3 second transactions with irreversible blocks in like a minute. Transfer money and see it there essentially immediately. Other blockchains don't offer that, and certainly the fiat world sucks at it. If you want a system that allows you transact quickly then you need Steem!
Shit works
Ok, don't get me wrong. It doesn't always work perfectly (HF20 cough cough), but other than when we upgrade the code we're pretty smooth running. Now that may seem like table stakes to play anywhere, but keep in mind what it means. If you want to build a game on etherum good luck. There's no room. So, now you have to build a side chain. That's going to costs you $10k if you're lucky and $100k or more if you're really handling this professionally. That's before you even have an app or business running. You have to start with the fucking chain. You're gonna spend 6 months burning cash before you even get to start working on the actual product!
With Steem it's functional. Come here, start transferring on day 1. I mean, think about how hard it can be to get a business up and running in the US. Then figure out how to get it to accept money from anyone on the planet. It's hard. Then try to setup Steem (can just buy an account through steemmonsters.com). And accept money from someone far away. It's easy.
Dev Work
Ok, last major point is about Devs. You have any idea how hard it is to find a C++ blockchain dev. It fucking blows. it's nearly impossible. You know how hard it is to find a web developer? Just hop on Freelancer and find like 100k of them. Finding an amazing one is a different story, but finding someone that can make a web page isn't rocket science.
So, which challenge would you rather face as a business guy? Find a C++ coder who you have to pay more than your attorney or find a web developer on fiverr who has to figure out APIs for Steem? It's a no brainer.
Build you Dapp here
Look, I know we're in a bear market. it blows. It hurts. But it'll end, and we'll have another rise up. If you start your project in the full swing of the bull run you'll likely miss your chance to capitalize on it. So, get your shit together, pack it up in a little box, and mail it to your special place storage unit.
Get your app built and get ready to ride the next wave. You can build it in many places, but I think you're foolish if you build it somewhere other than Steem.