The most successful might be from category two, but what is the denominator? How many with that attitude failed? I suspect category one has significantly higher survival, probably close to 100%.
Group 1's long-term success/survival is contingent on timely exits and timely access to future funding, which historically (i.e. during all times + places, except 2008-2021 in SV) is a pretty volatile commodity. Group 2 develops fairly portable skills that they can "sell" to the market whenever they want to give up on building by themselves. They can compound in a way that's uncorrelated from LPs' appetites for risky allocations.
It's like comparing a firecracker and a candle. Although they both depend on combustion, the goals of the two groups are almost disjoint.