The biggest issue I see with starting off with ASIC mining would be the illusion of centralized mining- as the ability to create the mining hardware would be in the hands of a central group. That argument would be fuel for many individuals.
If Helium reached an appropriate valuation, we could see the entry of larger and specialized ASIC companies into the scene. What's to stop them from developing a much more effective chip? The main strategy I see towards a decentralized mining network would be to deploy an algorithm that is memory intensive- or any specification that renders ASICs obsolete. An algorithm that is GPU friendly would be much more viable as it allows everyone in on the game from the start. The network would be truly decentralized, with no group with the "key" to mining in the beginning.
If you want to select an algorithm that is both GPU and ASIC friendly, X11 would definitely be viable. ASICs hashing X11 were released last year by small manufacturers, and the hardware is already spread amongst many miners.
A direct feed of ASIC from the developer of the coin has some pretty evident and potentially harmful consequences, like the devs centralization of hashing power.
It would be better eventually to adopt a solution like DGB as an example, which has an ASIC and VGA support on it's own, due the usage of different algos. Problem solved.