One of the reasons I write now is to grow my popularity, so that one day I will have enough reach to be able to build something big and grand and people will actually notice.
Why do you have to have reach in order to build something big and grand? Your reach has no bearing on the quality of your product! The idea is to build something so great that others will talk favorably about it regardless of what you say.
Except for projects that require a large userbase before it is useful (auctions, dating sites, etc). Then, a large following can be the jumpstart you need.
If you're not popular, only a few people will notice your product is good. Being popular helps your good work being noticed more publicly.
The only reason Hunch.com got so much popularity on launch is because it was a project by Flickr founder Caterina Fake. If you or I had made an exact site, it wouldn't have got even 1/10th the coverage. Being popular helps if you can repeat your past successes.
