Investing in bitcoin has no compulsory amount to invest, the thing is understanding, acknowledgeable, and patience, when you have the understanding to invest,
I don't totally disagree with you but since he(op) is new I think it would be better to pick Bitcoin. For this alt-coin investment, I think he has to take a lot more risk, in that case Bitcoin will give him a safe investment.
It doesn't matter if the OP is new or old but investing in altcoins should never be mentioned or recommended to him. Altcoins shouldn't be the way anybody starts his journey in the market or that individual will be lost forever because at first he might be lucky with his picks but as time goes on and he begins to become full of himself then the wrong picks starts coming in and if he isn't careful, he might lose everything he has gained including his invested capital.
That's how deadly the altcoins market are and shoudn't be given much attention when it comes to investing.Investment in Bitcoin should be the only encouraging idea as you save yourself a lot of lost by so doing. Bitcoin will always be profitable in every bull run but the same can't be said about a particular altcoins or them all in general. Therefore if you want to get the best out of Bitcoin then investing when the market is down is the best step to follow.