Yes, i think the success cryptocurrency surely takes some times to grow, why ? because that is what we call natural growth.
The coin that have high value shortly after its creation usually because hype only and the price will falling later.
most of project has the same goal now. sale, listed in the market, dump the price, abandoned the project, make a new one and do the same thing again with different team and identity. that's why some projects are called scam by most of investors. its price always falling after listed on the market. also, some of the projects really use the hype to scam some investors.
It is like building a foundation, just like what you have said if a coin have high value after its been out in the market it usually falls down quick, top cryptocurrency now goes through a roller coaster ride in terms of its price so i could say they really have built its foundation and that's why it is in the top cryptos now but trusting coins now is different than before because just like your example there they just make a project and after that they just repeat it, back in the days we dont have much projects as much as now so they really trusted some of the coins back then even if its price is low.