Selling to big colleges is not too different than selling to large enterprises and/or to Uncle Sam. Product quality and features are much lower on the list, than lobying, networking, marketing, developing contacts. Learn to play golf (or whatever the CEOs and administrators of big institutions or companies are doing today to socialize). Or instead of hiring another programmer hire someone who was in charge of making buying decisions for the industry you are trying to sell to.

That is also the reason why many colleges, or governments, end up with crapy overpriced software. You look at it and say "I can do 10x better and sell for 10x cheaper". The problem is you are not aware of the size of the iceberg lying under the water.