Left: Alternative Board member and contractor Gary Goldsmith, left, reviews home renovation plans with job surpervisor Kris Pietraszewski. [Steven J. Dundas.]

Six entrepreneurs sat around a table in Dover, making small talk over coffee and bagels. Then, like poker players upping the ante, they began throwing their problems on the table:

How do you get customers to pay their bills? If an employee quits, should you leave the job vacant until the economy picks up? How much slack should you give marginal workers and hyper-demanding customers?