The difference is between a seemingly "successful company" and a "successful investment". The latter requires the company not to just make enough money to cover

The difference is between a seemingly "successful company" and a "successful investment". The latter requires the company not to just make enough money to cover its ongoing expenses (variable costs), but also to cover the cost of setting itself up (the fixed cost). In starker terms, the same allegedly successful company would, had it been financed with a loan, be drowning due to the inability to pay off its debt.