By now, I'm rather convinced that the "core problem" of software engineering is that it's too easy. Yes, despite the myriad failures in delivery, once you actually get some working software onto the market, its value immediately multiplies as a sole function of your marketing (and, incidentally, I think this is one of the reasons why US based companies are more successful than e.g. European ones: they can start out with a big single market). And even when you're not profitable, VC money is being pumped into the most ridiculous of companies right now.

Of course, when faced with this kind of situation, why bother getting things right and professionalising? I've seen big companies with the most insane development cultures where things would constantly break, and yet it didn't really have any big negative impact on profits. Maybe the well will dry up at some point, but so far it doesn't look like it.