I agree that a single person can build a major app in a year. Can a single person build, market, sell, and support that app in a year without giving up their entire life?
And to ask a different question - can a founder funded by VC money run their startup without giving up their entire life, and a substantial proportion of their potential earnings?
Very different from using all of your resources to self fund it.
POF was a minimalist app in a well trodden market. You shouldn't raise VC to do something like this, and you shouldn't be able to (though yes it happens far too often).
There are many problems and markets that just don't fit this approach.