All options are on the table and general thinking the auction of shares / Steem from Steemit.inc is a good possibility. In my opinion you are also suggesting an OTC Market for the Auction and I agree to that because selling a big portion of Steem on the open market would be catastrophic.
I think Steemit.inc shouldn't do the Share selling right away in this bear market. First comes cost reduction and that accounts also for companies operating in the real world. Ned needs to make his company more efficient in the first place before they can raise more capital by selling Shares. If they would do the auction right now where everybody is desperate at Steemit.inc they would get ripped a part from the investors and selling those Shares for pennies.
So, yes selling of shares is a good longterm idea but I think Steemit.inc should first focus on cost reduction, generating more income streams and please complete the SMT project! soon!!