The big difference is that startups generally can't get bank loans on the scale they need, because the risk is so high that it's bad for the lender. If I could replace an investor with a 10% staake with a bank that I have to pay back at 8% interest, I'd take it in a heartbeat.
When the company has no liquid asset or property, the bank will use your personal assets (e.g. your house) as a security. These loans has to be continued at the year end or be paid back within a year (over-year loans have different regulations). This is what happened to me. After two years the bank didn't continue the loan because we couldn't show up 10% profit increase or 10 times of the loan in revenue, so I had 8 days to a) pay it back b) find an other bank to finance, but because the loan was in my books, and my personal assets were also the securities, it was very-very difficult to solve this situation.
Honestly? That statement seems a tad simplistic to me. Especially in the context of startups.