Nature vs Nurture and Entrepreneurship

Seems like this topic comes up pretty often. I agree with Fred but some level of nurturing by mentors is important; the mold usually needs some shaping and polishing. ycom, techstars, et al. are prime examples of this.

Amit said "his research shows" but a quick look at his publications doesn't show that that is his research area at all.

There's been a lot of actual research showing that people working in certain fields (i.e. Wall Street) have certain characteristics (risk-taking) so unless someone can come up with the papers to show otherwise I wouldn't be convinced.