Ask HN: Do most successful companies get big funding in their first years?

I was amazed at how much time and effort successful founders put in their businesses, and I'm mostly interested in the beginning of their journey (since I'm currently in that stage myself)

- Jack Ma: "In 1999 .. The team set to work building their own online marketplace .. By October 1999, the company had raised $5 million from Goldman Sachs and $20 million from SoftBank" - AirBnb: Started in 2008, got into YC in 2009 and got $20k then soon received $600k in funding - Jeff Bezos: Got ~$100k in funding from his parents during his first days - ..

Does all this money help these founders being able to put +16 hours work days when they know they have enough money to "live on"? How important for these founders was to have so much funding for them to work so much on their businesses and free their minds from other basic needs (paying bills, ..)?