I've observed the same thing in the EdTech space (e.g. ClassDojo, Google Classroom), and I think a big part of that is being self-serve forces the company to build _actually good_ software, not just software that sells well to the district, state, etc.
What's required to sell software to large buyers is very different from what's required to make the product useful, but in the long-run, it's the utility of the product that makes it valuable to end-users, and the success of the end-users _eventually_ determines how the buyers make decisions. Self-serve software tends to prioritize the things that will make it easy to sell and improve in the future.
What's required to sell software to large buyers is very different from what's required to make the product useful, but in the long-run, it's the utility of the product that makes it valuable to end-users, and the success of the end-users _eventually_ determines how the buyers make decisions. Self-serve software tends to prioritize the things that will make it easy to sell and improve in the future.