It may be normal and a common practice, but none of that implies that such practices should be seen as "normal" or used at all. Ethics cannot be derived from argumentum ad antiquitatem or argumentum ad populum.
I'll make a slightly stronger argument though. You should do business with those you trust. There is no rigorous rational way to determine someone's trustworthiness, so you must get to know them and see how they respond to situations and ultimately rely on your intuition for making decisions.
It's just human nature and I seriously doubt it will ever change. Business is usually built on a relationship of trust, so of course if you know someone you will get better treatment than if you are a stranger.
A good example is a new startup giving an executive a free account to try to get their interest. According to you, it's unethical, but it actually helps small companies compete.
Most business people don't claim to be uber-smart and visionary. They just try to do their jobs like everyone else. Do you think the CEO of McDonalds expects anyone to believe that he's some prodigy who's "transforming the world of hamburgers"?
Silicon Valley created its own pedestal of "meritocracy" so when we find out that it's no more meritocratic than any other business-- and, in fact, often less so-- the black eye is deserved.
Can we all just agree that while individual technology choices may be decided according to some figure of merit, business is a messy multi-biased thing and move on?