Ask what they want out of it. They should be honest. Like really really honest.
If it's for money, then my advice is - don't do it. Especially if you have an option to get a 5 figure salary comfortably in a successful company. Successful entrepreneurship is like a lottery. News covers only the successes(lottery wins). No one covers the losses which is way larger. You can easily get lured by seeing the news of successes. And if they are still don't get convinced, it's their destiny to experience it :). If they do not have an option for getting a comfortable salary, it's fine. The hunger will eventually get you money.
If it's for passion, ask them to do it as side hobby/business. After all they are not in it for money. And if they are really lucky they will reach a point where they can make it a full time work.
p.s. I am into my third startup. This is exactly what I would tell my kids, that is if they care to ask.
I disagree with this statement. If you want a company that makes a billion dollars, your chances are very slim. I'm on my fifth company and my current one makes over six figures (a few million in revenue).
All of my friends have gone through many hardships over the last 5 years because they worked at other companies that downsized and they were let go. My career has been pretty stable with my own company.
"If it's for passion, ask them to do it as side hobby/business."
This will ensure that it stays a side-business. Most people don't really have the time to work 9-5 (and many times longer than this) and then run a company full-time. Especially if they have a significant other.
I tried many times to start a company and inevitably failed. Mostly because I couldn't really focus on it with a full-time job. If you really want to start a business, I would recommend saving 6 months to a year of your current salary and quitting. But make sure you actually have a real plan to make money. Market testing is a must.
What I've noticed is that there just aren't that many people out there that are willing to sacrifice their time or are passionate enough to stick with a business long enough for it to succeed.
Before my successful company, I tried multiple times to partner with friends that I thought would be a good fit for a business partner. They all failed within the first year. I would end up doing 99% of the work and my business partner would either do the least-possible amount of work or it would devolve into me being the manager/boss where I had to assign them work (which I really don't want to do). One person just didn't want to give up his drinking/partying time with his other friends.
There is this myth on HN that running a business/startup is glamorous and fun. Many people want to start a company because they like this glamorized idea of running a startup and think it's cool. They usually are slapped in the face with reality pretty quickly.
I never started a company for the money, it was always for the freedom. But what I've come to realize is that money is freedom. The more you have, the less control others have over your path in life.
> "Successful entrepreneurship is like a lottery"
>
> I disagree with this statement. [...] I'm on my fifth company and my current one makes over six figures
So what? You winning the lottery doesn't make it any less of a lottery!
I agree 100% that it's a lottery, my father was an entrepreneur nearly his entire working life, and simply by a) keeping at it, b) never getting in too far that it bankrupted him or put him in jail like the fathers of some of my schoolmates, he managed to become a multimillionaire. Of course, he had intelligence, talent, skill and increasing experience, plus the help of my mother who's no slouch at any of those, but the key thing was not giving up, and to a certain extent banking the proceeds of the successful ventures.
Ah, yeah, one other key was his ability to know when to sell out, and an ability to sell such companies; as a matter of fact, he made more than a little money on commissions in helping to sell other people's companies, exiting when you have a small to medium sized company without any unicorn like characteristics can be quite a trick. Arranging for some steady sources of income from commercial real estate also helped in terms of riding out the harder times, as well as paying off the family home as soon as was possible.
Kids tend to be dishonest to themselves because they get caught up in playing a social role, and only gradually fall off of that track over time. So in a lot of ways it doesn't matter what you say or prompt them to say at that one moment. If you want them to want things that aren't money, you have to build a whole village of peers and mentors that keep driving that point home. Sadly the world is mostly petty and will slot business ownership into "job+" - even people who operate businesses themselves!
If it's for money, then my advice is - don't do it. Especially if you have an option to get a 5 figure salary comfortably in a successful company. Successful entrepreneurship is like a lottery. News covers only the successes(lottery wins). No one covers the losses which is way larger. You can easily get lured by seeing the news of successes. And if they are still don't get convinced, it's their destiny to experience it :). If they do not have an option for getting a comfortable salary, it's fine. The hunger will eventually get you money.
If it's for passion, ask them to do it as side hobby/business. After all they are not in it for money. And if they are really lucky they will reach a point where they can make it a full time work.
p.s. I am into my third startup. This is exactly what I would tell my kids, that is if they care to ask.