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> perpetrators are smart enough to avoid being caught.

IMO, many startups are scams on some level. VC A funds company X. VC A also funds company Y. Company Y 'decides' to use company X's hot new product and has a lofty enterprise license. This happens a few more times. Company X now has very large revenues, VC's friends at big-nation-bank decide it's time to IPO and cash out.

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I wish a VC's recommendation or direction was all it took to get a deal done. Getting a "lofty Enterprise license" through procurement is so much harder than you are stating. They can make an introduction, sure, but very few VCs are micromanaging to the point of determining a portfolio company's tech stack.

Source: a decade of VC funded Enterprise saas company selling experience

However there have been cases of a product being used internally because a board member recommended it. I’ve seen small versions of it myself.

My source: Worked for a startup hosting company, our biggest clients were backed by the same VC's as us.

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