Gates was funded by a wealthy attorney father. Apple got revenue fairly quickly and was huge soon after launch.
Amazon I don't know about but the site was a market darling even during the years they hemorrhaged money. That funding would provide a more stable environment than some basement shop without Ivy league credentials struggling to attract VC.
This is a different environment than any startup I or many others could attempt. That kind of financial backing or quick success helps tremendously. I could never start Pandora and struggle for years given the cost of my insulin.
If I quit my job and started a business I would sacrifice stable earnings and existing assets for the chance of ruin and success. It's different with wealthy parents or with investor confidence. There's a safety net. Not many people jump without one - for good reason.
It shouldn't be romanticized. It should be realistically assessed. If you're deluding yourself about that there's too high a chance your personal worries and rose-colored glasses will doom your business.
You may be able to succeed and many do. But if you can't admit the possibility of failure and realistically assess risk or evaluate opportunity costs you have no place running a business. I used to make money reselling computers on ebay. I made good cash. But the shit I never considered ate away at my profits the most.
The difference on Wall Street or working as an accountant is that you generally know where the next paycheck is coming. That's something most people can't handle or survive losing. Even the insurance is a safety net that a family with children needs desperately.
I was diabetic at a young age. How would my mom have coped if my dad had sacrificed insurance and steady income for the chance of riches when I got sick? Think she'd stick around?
Bezos was already well beyond f-u money when he left D.E. Shaw to found Amazon.
Jobs did not have a stable personal life during Apple's early days; he did not meet his wife until several years after he was removed from Apple.