Obviously I need to have friends who already want to invest a significant amount into Eth, otherwise I'm just "that guy" shilling some scheme to their family and friends.
Under what possible scenario do I have a few k$ spare, but not 10k$ spare, to invest in a speculative asset, and also have a large number of friends and family already in exactly the same position?
The only one I can see would make me the "cryptobro", to use the currently-popular phrase.
It's also quite ironic that you suggest the basis of Eth consensus be based on the strength of inter-personal trust. If that's how it works, then why bother with the complexities of Eth?
I'm not saying the basis of ETH consensus is based on inter-personal trust. The conversation started by a complaint of 32 ETH required to run a validator being out of reach of normal people, so I provided multiple other options for how a normal person can take part in this.