Like, I think the most important difference between someone who charges $2500/mo to their customers and someone who charges $15,000/mo is that the latter person asks for more money. There are other differences, but they follow distantly behind, not closely.
I don't think this is a cynical observation. I think some of the same kinds of dynamics this post talks about are at play in selecting the types of organizations that make those asks; the causality is important though, because it starts with asking for more money, it doesn't end up there.
The funny thing is the guy charging $15K a month will get treated a lot better than his cheaper peers. People really do value things by how much they pay rather than some objective worth.
My last employer pulled out of a services business so I left and started contracting for the same customers. The only distinction was I charged three times as much as my employer had been. Not only were they happy to pay but their whole attitude towards me noticeably improved.
I don't think this is a cynical observation. I think some of the same kinds of dynamics this post talks about are at play in selecting the types of organizations that make those asks; the causality is important though, because it starts with asking for more money, it doesn't end up there.