When growing an early stage... or future Bonsai should you bother much with shaping the tree? Or just let it grow?

I potted in a smaller pot with lots of holes to create a good root ball and then planted that in a large pot

That is a question to which you can get as many answers as you have people growing bonsai. In short.. It depends..

IF you think you will grow the trunk fat and then chop it, do not worry too much about wiring; Most of it will be cut of. If you attempt to thicken it with sacrifice branches, then yes, by al means add some interesting shapes in the trunk.The younger the branch, the easier to shape (Look at baby bending).

Pure opinion here.

The S shape that seems to be a charcteristic of most malsais makes a tree look like a malsais. There are lots of trees in the forests with peculiar shapes, but that S just looks silly---to me.

Shape the trunk carefully for literati, cascade, or whatever, but I would avoid overdoing the S.