One of my best friends owns a modeling agency specializing in new talent. As far as I can see, it's very hard work to find modeling talent, which I (stupidly?)

One of my best friends owns a modeling agency specializing in new talent. As far as I can see, it's very hard work to find modeling talent, which I (stupidly?) think is not even "talent" in the same way that actors, writers, squash-players and programmers are. Also, it's a very very feast-or-famine business and the agency is taking most of the financial risk. For the Hollywood case, I agree that my analogy weakens a lot when we consider all the people writing code for 10 years at a crack. However my anecdata (basically, watching what jobs different friends have gotten) suggests that connections in software are at least as important as anywhere else for the top end, it's just that there's a vast middle that pays pretty well and doesn't actually care whom you know. I read somewhere that Netflix says "we're not a family, we're a sports team," which I find quite interesting (and enticing!) but also seems to be an analogy in search of an agent?