I love this comment because it relates to me. I've had multiple older men: my father, my grandfather, and a few "guiding male role models" who have steered me the way of real estate and while I can see the value in it, it bores me, terrifies me, and excites me at the same time. I have no passion for it. I don't have any desire to fix what other people break or attempt to collect rent every month. It sounds great when you have good tenants, but it takes a lot of years of mistakes and lessons to get to be a good landlord with good paying tenants.
Instead, I focus on virtual real estate: the SaaS market, which makes it easier to collect rent and leads me to your point of starting a business: find something people need and sell it. Make sure you save for Uncle Sam and the companies who help you along the way, and you can definitely build something from there.
Starting with other companies definitely takes a bit of patience and learning to work together and having the same goals. Everything starts off with a simple idea and it only takes chemistry to make it mean something. So its possible and there are plenty of websites to help those two people meet.
As for your suggestion with stocks, I do the same thing with stocks but I am a bit of a risk taker because I still have about 30 more years of work -- 15 if I am lucky. Depending on your age, you should certainly be willing to take risks, while creating a safety net for yourself.
If you're single and a developer, making upwards of 5 digits to 6 digits a year, then you really have no worries, and you should consult a financial advisor to let you know when you can genuinely retire if you don't change your life -- or help you figure out a few things if you do.
If you're married, you can still make it work, but you'll have to sit everyone down and explain to her that sacrifices may need to be made. It's not about cash-stuffing or putting away that extra $100 instead of taking everyone out to the movies. It's more about being more frugal, less wasteful.
As for the fastest and safest way of getting rich? Build something everyone wants. A service, a tool, a package, anything... and make the world realize they didn't know they needed this in their life. We all didn't know we needed Netflix or Disney+... but during the qurantine, our lives are far more entertaining than sitting there in your house in 1919, fearing anyone that sneezed. Oh, and Dominoe's Pizza. You don't actually need it, but you just ordered it.