Is a necessity to do a fund raiser in order to start up a project??
Did satoshi nakamoto and vitalik also started a fund raised??
It depends on how the team is working on the project. Even if it is hardcap but the team is not doing their job then it is worthless and also don't expect that the coin is automatically pump since it reaches hardcap. That is not the way it used to be.
It is necessity to start a fund raiser since the meaning of ICO itself is Initial Coin Offering. Most altcoins did that before they're in their state as a cryptocurrency.
Vitalik did a fund raising and that is Ethereum. Not sure if Satoshi did that since Satoshi Nakamoto is still an enigma until today.