first off I phrased it somewhat weirdly, I meant to say there is a very small number of high profile professionals who are close and influential, not few overall, but the point is that a lot of deals still go through very informal, tight-knit, often secretive hands in for example the tech sector.

The 'Paypal Mafia' is I think a good example of this. It's hard to imagine you get the same number of businesses out of a dispersed, random groups on the internet. Business knowledge and success even in 'meritocratic' sectors are still depend on a lot of tacit and informal relationships.

If they did they’d be poisoning their competitors.