Instead, they are obsessed with a definition of business success that doesn't involve ten-digit numbers.
There is one "lifestyle" business that's rampant throughout Silicon Valley, in spite of its efforts to deny it. This would be the bottom quartile of the venture business. It's all about picking up management fees, taking long weekends, and living large.
It's largely semantics as any small business should ideally be cashflow positive but I think the nuance here is one that you can build these businesses to scale, just without VC funding. The time horizon for growth is much longer as a result but definitely there.
Running a gas station is not a lifestyle business.
IIRC, Plenty of Fish never took VC money.
There are other examples out there. You have to research it if you want it, but it does happen.
* http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/03/i-love-lucy-...
A business is not a real person; you're not doing things "for it" anymore than I'm being charitable by gifting my car new tires.
One curious thing is it's more selfish than a startup - after all, you're doing it for you, not for the business. You want it to be sustainable, so the ugliness of competition is relevant sooner. One pg essay likens a startup to a charity, and some, like Craigslist retain some of that quality, helping a lot of people without making as much money as they could.
Note: I'm not criticizing you for wanting this. I'd like it too, I just haven't found a way of doing it that doesn't become nasty. YMMV.