According to Sam Hamadeh, founder and chief executive of Vault.com, a New York publisher of job information, being an outsider increases the likelihood that someone will want to start his own venture. "The more you are part of the establishment, the more you are giving up to start a business," he said. "Minorities, immigrants, gays and lesbians are all more likely to start businesses than other people."

Hamadeh, for his part, sacrificed the securest of establishment jobs -- an offer from a prestigious law firm -- to start Vault. Having just graduated from a dual-degree program at Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he figured he had to plunge in then, or risk never making the effort. "When you graduate is as good a time as you'll see to start a business," he said. "The negative is you're broke. But the positive is you're broke, so you've got nothing to lose. I talk with my friends in investment banking who claim they want to try something entrepreneurial, and it's always, 'Just one more bonus season....'"

The role of venture capitalists sparked nearly as much talk at the conference as the challenges that entrepreneurs face. Indeed, several panelists argued that venture capitalists are the main challenge for entrepreneurs. "Did anyone ever notice how rich VCs are?" quipped Lucinda Duncalfe Holt, chief executive of Commerce360, a Plymouth Meeting, Pa., online marketing firm. "That money comes at your expense if you're an entrepreneur."