When raising a round:
Who you know > your actual product

Agree or disagree?

Cheap Compute --> God Machines --> Eternal Life. Working on this at /mercury

Who you know is related to your track record of delivering products, so maybe over time they will trust your judgement but the first time around you still need a good product.

At the intersection of media & emerging technology, prev. Sony Pictures, Netflix

I think it's the other way around tbh. First time around what matters most is social connections, where you grew up, who your dad knows etc. Otherwise it's a boatload of work to get those initial meetings and if you do get them you have to be 10x more convincing.
Second time around it's easier.

Also I can think of an equal number of examples in my experience where people got funding because of connections vs. getting funding because they worked at it, without any advantages (aside from the macro race & gender trends)

That's certainly happening in the world, but I don't think there's much point in dwelling on it, unless you're launching a fund to be more fair and equitable