Not all funding is creating equal or share the same expectations. Borrowing money from a bank to open a bakery or taking an investment from friends and family to cover the initial startup costs is very different from raising venture capital money. The growth and return on investment expectations are wildly different.
Just because someone takes funding, doesn't make them any less or a part of some "built" system. Even my favourite bakery could never have got started without funding - with debt not equity. It doesn't make him any less brilliant. He would've had to be extremely rich so start the business otherwise