NxT did hit $90 million for a brief period. Aurora hit $300 million. Both did well based on initial community reaction but the price plummeted when confidence went out the window. I think if NxT had a better IPO - it would had hit and remained stable at $100+ million and would had potential to upswing in value.
Bitcointalk had 100x lower number of accounts in September, when Nxt IPO started (and was 60 days long then), but still, everyone could join it and pay 100 dollars for 1 Bitcoin and buy into maximum stake in Nxt in September and October. Price of Bitcoin was skyrocketing in November, so IPO had to be shorter due to the Bitcoin price (700 dollars instead of 100). If there was no Nxt, there would be no NEM aswell