No, that's entirely the wrong meaning to take. Favours are just fine, I've given and received many myself. Nothing wrong with doing someone a favour. The problem is not knowing when you should be doing favours, and when you should be doing business.

If you help a friend with a coding problem he's having with his startup, that's a favour. If you give up other paid employment to help him found a startup, that's business, and you need contracts and payment and all the things that go with business.