You're saying this as if networking and convincing acquaintances to offer financial assistance is cheating, rather than a normal part of starting up a company
Anyway, how about SpaceX? I suppose that's a similar story? It's true that SpaceX also was really on the verge of failure, and it survived because of government subsidies and private loans
But there does seem to be a rare pattern of repeated success here. Elon started with ZipX ($22m in 4 years), then X.com/Paypal ($175m in 2 years), then Tesla and SpaceX.
He's repeatedly creating valued companies, and in the SpaceX case, real innovation. Is this 100% luck, is it all a scam? I find that difficult to believe.