Wow... yeah, I suppose this works! But it's a lot of work... I love to follow people who write stuff I like to read and if they like stuff I write I'm happy for a follow, but I somehow stopped the follow-for-follow approach as in the end I might have a timeline full of stuff I might not be interested in. I guess for reaching the first 100 followers and qualifying for the Medium Partner Program crossing the 100-mark is crucial. From there onwards, just focus on quality writing and let your work do the job, at least that's how I see it. But I get it, it's annoying as hell if some unfollow after you feel you got an agreement of some kind. Cheers!