Should an entrepreneur believe he's "changing the world" instead of just "building a successful business"? Why or why not?

Insane people make all the difference in the world.

While it's certainly noble to think about the ability to "change the world" with an idea and a lot of hard work, reality says that having a history of "small successes" helps with the actual execution of your idea. Even if you spend your five years on a company worth "only" $50MM, that's five years spent learning how to build a company out, how to deal with investors and media, how to close deals, manage employees, and iterate on products. Chances are you won't get that stuff right the first time around, so why is experience in this a bad thing? Beyond the experience of having built a successful company, there are plenty of industries that require substantial capital investment to even start (think green tech, bio tech, space tech), and that money would have to come either out of your own $10MM pocket or via investors who'd have to look at your track record as an entrepreneur to determine whether to put money into your venture. In both cases, it helps to have already "made it" at least once. Yes, you can dream of becoming a Facebook/Google, the same way that kids dream of becoming Jordan. Not impossible, but the odds are stacked against you.

If all you care about is changing the world, you'll most likely get impatient that you haven't changed it yet. However, if you find a real problem that needs fixing, and are passionate about continually working to fix it, you might find that over time, you'll make the impact you want.

Dude you should calm down... First dont treat 50MM as peanuts most entrepreneurs fail even at that, and how did you come up with that 80%? was the business running and on it's way to success or you just guessed it would be like that? Second, the whole ''change the world'' thing, it went overboard during the dotcom bubble, it became obvious for many people including investors that when someone said that what they really meant was ''I plan to take the money, build something that will most likely fail and live lavishly for a few years'' which is actually what happened most of the time. And last, most of the people that actually managed to change the world for better and actually make a difference didn't made a dime off their efforts. In some cases those who did make some money were fakers who took what others did and repackaged it. What I'm trying to say here is that you should take that hollywoodesque perspective out of your head, real entrepreneurship and innovation isn't how media portrays it. It's for your own good, I've seen too many friends and colleagues fall into depression because the startup scene wasn't as great as they were told it would be. The sooner you stop thinking like that the easier it will be to make something that matters, and if you fail the fall wont be nearly as bad as it could be.

What you experience is completely normal.  Life is too short to be spent on things that matter less to us. Continue hopping between ideas till you find that one thing you become obsessed with. Steve Jobs might have tried various things but his heart was always with "Apple". Not that he was not successful in Next or Pixar but the obsession over Apple was just too much. On his second coming, he was the CEO of both Apple and Pixar - but I bet not many people know him or identify him with Pixar as much as they do with Apple. Keep looking till what you are looking for possesses you. “Believe that things will work out… follow your intuition and curiosity… trust your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path… You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future… The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it… Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - Steve Jobs

Having a grand mission to change the world is a lot more motivating when things are tough than having a mission to create a successful business. Most people agree that persistence is one of the keys to success in any venture, so it seems like exactly the right mindset for an entrepreneur. AND, if you fail, at least you failed doing something that mattered.

Will you be happy in 5 years with 25 dumped ideas?  Pick something and run with it.  If it doesn't change the world then you have experience to run the company you finally choose to when that life changing idea hits.  This reminds me of a video I saw and I believe Jason Fried was the speaker.  You don't need to create the next facebook and make 100 million dollars.  If you create a network and make 5 million you are still doing amazing for yourself.  The same can be said about your ideas.  You don't have to change the world.  If you make a small difference, you have still done something. I used to pass on my ideas all the time for a variety of reasons.  Then I realized I was just making excuses and didn't have the drive to follow through.  Thankfully, once I realized that, I was able to move forward with no excuses.