I don't believe that is correct, as Advanced Shipyards is a Level 2 Tier, which I believe you can't have without first getting the Tier 1 complete, ie: Shipyard.
And as far as starting with a shipyard, No. Think about it in like Star Trek terms. Harvesters and Mining Outpost ships are small in comarrison to Destroyers and their larger brothers. You can build a small boat in your garage, but you need a larger dry dock (shipyard) to build a destroyer. Or you can build a shuttle on earth, but you need a space station to build the USS Enterprise.