Successful startups who didn't rely on giving up equity / investor funding? [I will not promote]

I'm curious to hear from successful startups who have NOT gone down the route of equity investors—those who take shares in exchange for funding. - What's your story? - how did you do it? - how old were you when you started? - what drove you to do it? - how many businesses did you start before finding the right one? - anything else worth sharing I mostly hear about companies securing investor funding where they give up shares, and I’m really interested to learn how many businesses managed to avoid that route and how they did it.