easyjet started with two aircraft.
True, but...(from Wiki)
A self-labelled "serial entrepreneur", Stelios started working in 1988 for his father's
already successful shipping business, Troodos Shipping Co Ltd. At 25,
his father gave him £30 million that he used to set up his own shipping company, Stelmar Shipping.[5] Stelios floated the company on the NYSE in 2001. In 2005, Stelmar Shipping was sold to the OSG Group for approximately $1.3 billion.
(my italics)
...it helps when you go to Boeing and tell them you want to set up an airline with those sort of credentials, eh?