1/ Most entrepreneurs start with one goal in mind:

FREEDOM.

If you truly value freedom, you should have one goal for your first company:

Something that can produce $100-$200k of personal income.

It can be boring and doesn't have to scale.

2/ You have to build a launchpad, before you build a rocket.

There is no greater security than knowing that, no matter what risks you take, you have a business churning out enough to pay for your livelihood.

3/ A recent example of a perfect "launchpad" business:

A guy I know found a very specific, niche style of timeless table that gets cloned by a gazillion furniture companies...

4/ He discovered the search term "X furniture knockoff reviews" had no competition on Google.

He bought all the knockoffs, wrote reviews, optimized the site for SEO, and started getting boatloads of free traffic.

Then, he went to all the companies and did affiliate deals.

5/ GENIUS. $50-$200k/yr for probably 5-10 days of easy work.

Now he's set for the foreseeable future and can take big swings.

This should be your single aspiration when starting out.

Forget 95% chance of failure startups.

Build something that makes you a living first.