Main question is: Start out my friend on small stakes SNGs or Cash games?

I have been playing poker for a while now, and one of my friends is beginning to play online as well. I am trying to figure out the best games for him to play while he is learning. He has read Phil Gordon's little green book and is reading HOH1 right now.

I started out playing SNGs on PS.. the 5 buck, then 10, then 20, then 50. I switched to cash about 4 months ago and finally am doing OK in that. My friend started playing .05/.10 cash games (10NL). Smaller stakes below that were just not realistic enough. He did OK, break even or a little bit worse, is down about 80 bucks or so and has ran into a few tough hands.

Are SNGs a lot easier for beginners to learn just because of the reduced post flop decisions in the later stages? I think I may have made a mistake by throwing him into cash games right away, as it was fairly difficult even for me to adjust and start winning.

Thank you in advance for all suggestions.