> Better to spend it on competent staff than a company lighting VC money on fire, no?

False dichotomy though. You either acknowledge that getting a vendor to do that for you also implies competent staff or you acknowledge that hiring "competent staff" is not like flipping a switch and requires training, ramp-up time, few wrong hires, getting managers to guide the teams, etc

I'm not sure which way is better, but I don't think the industry has decided either :)