I feel that their should be rewards for people that are early to upvote content that becomes very successful...

And while I love the feed of people I follow, at the same time when I'm looking at all my favorite posters, I am not discovering new people. This would frustrate me if I was in their shoes.

I agree with the goal and reason why we need it, but the algorithm you suggest (which is in place) does not accomplish the goal and appears to incentivize the opposite result of a circlejerk groupthink as @condra above as well I explained.

I believe you are actually supporting a feature which is destroying what you want.