Microsoft hit a billion in sales in roughly 12 years (inflation adjusted). They took no outside money, and ran Microsoft out of low cost areas for the first four years.
Gateway 2000 was founded on a farm in Iowa. They hit a billion in sales in 7 years (in 1992 dollars). Their outside money consisted of a $10,000 loan from Ted Waitt's grandma.
I believe Microsoft took one round of venture financing, and that VC (Dave Marquardt) is both still quite an active investor (as founder of August Capital) and is also still on Microsoft's Board. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Marquardt for details.
