[inthewoods]

A few comments:

1. Salesmanship is involved in all companies - whether that is done in person or online doesn't matter - it is a fundamental part of any business.

2. Enterprise software sales - particularly to the largest corporations, absolutely does not run like an old-buddy network anymore. While it is true that it is still partially a relationship sell (particularly getting in the door), the amount of hoops you have to jump through in terms of getting buy in from various stakeholders, to getting through procurement, means that it is increasingly difficult to sell to the largest corporations. Average close for an enterprise business is likely between 12 and 18 months.

3. Software is not required to be new, different or any sort of high-level technology to be valuable or sell. While you're right that a forum or a wiki or bunch of online polls could satisfy the requirements, they may not work from a process, security, intuitiveness or any number of other points-of-view. Value is often created in software not from being unique, but from finding a valuable use case that is currently underserved and creating a product that matches that exact need.