Little bit of the American dream for starters (3)
I believe the answer is:
tad
'little bit' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'the american dream for starters' is the wordplay.
'for starters' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'the american dream' is 'TAD'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tad that I've seen before include "Small bit" , "A small amount (colloq.)" , "Smidgen" , "Modest amount" , "little boy" .)