A pawn becomes dangerous when everyone forgets what happens at the other side of the board.

Small positions become powerful when people stop paying attention to what they can eventually become. Being dismissed early is uncomfortable and it also means being unwatched, which is exactly the condition in which people build something surprising.

If you are currently minor in some room, use the lack of scrutiny rather than resenting it. Build while nobody is measuring. Being taken seriously too early is more of a constraint than most people realize.