RE: Some thoughts about funding SMT's
Sure.
Consider Steemhunt, for example.
They will be distributing their own tokens built on top of SMTs, once they go live. Not in a way ICOs on Ethereum work, though. To be able to jump start their business, they came up with the idea of distributing those SMTs to Steem Power delegators.
You delegate to steemhunt -> you gain a share in HUNT tokens. It gets more complicated, hence the link. You can read more there.
The point is, Ethereum does not have the power to do this. There is no delegation there. You simply have to buy the token with ETH.
You could say that I have to buy Steem and you would be right. But the delegation gives you the power to seamlessly transition between projects. Meaning that I have the freedom of taking my money out of certain projects to put in into other in a matter of minutes.