I've only tried to develop 1 app in my lifetime (a yelp for coding bootcamps). I had to brainstorm for weeks, if not months, for that idea. Building the site was no problem, but the real one was getting reviews (using various techniques, my partner and I only got a half dozen.) In the end, I spent a couple hundred bucks and several months down the drain.<p>Contrast that with what I'm doing now: niche sites. Just build content and get links. Much simpler. There are half a dozen excellent podcasts on the topics, and dozen more blogs with tutorials and how tos.<p>There's also FBA/dropshipping/ecommerce...<p>Of course, developing your own app is a lot more satisfying. But I think it's way way more difficult. I think it's better to bat for singles then aim for home runs. Not to mention that some people are making 7 figures off niche sites with no employees and an awesome software project could end up making $200/mo.
There are many roads to Rome. If what you're doing works for you, then do it. But as to the question of whether or not "building software a bad route for entrepreneurship?" is a true statement in any universal sense, I think the answer is obviously "no". An awful lot of people have done amazingly well as entrepreneurs by building software, so it's pretty clear that it works for some people.