In sports (I'll use Hockey as my example here), teams that are going through a rebuilding phase to stock up on young talent will often bring in a few veterans,

In sports (I'll use Hockey as my example here), teams that are going through a rebuilding phase to stock up on young talent will often bring in a few veterans, players who are past their prime physical ability but are deep on wisdom and experience. Their presence there is to stabilize the new players. They (often) provide a calming presence ("Down by 2 and 3 minutes left? Bah, been here plenty of times. Don't panic.") and provide leadership. However, you won't see them wearing the Captain's "C". That's the job of your young star that the team is coalescing around. Instead, he's there to be the mentor, the teacher, and build the new for their role and help them avoid mistakes. Lemieux mentored Crosby. Sergei Federov mentored and played alongside a rising Alex Ovechkin. The older guys were well established. They'd been young, excelled, failed, and seen it all. They had valuable lessons to impart and weren't as prone to panic or mood-swings. Startups have some good resources in organizations like YC to get that level of mentor-ship, but perhaps it would be worthwhile during that incubation phase to impart on those new companies not to dismiss your older workforce. Making your new founders understand that they're not to be feared, but consulted as a source of wisdom could steer them around potential mistakes, and provide that steadfastness when the cluster craps itself at 2AM. Of course you want everyone to believe in your vision, even if there's some skepticism, you need people behind you to succeed. It's perfectly reasonable to evaluate on that. But if I were in charge of an incubator, I'd be instructing that founder that, when she or he is building that young crack team, grab a few veterans as well. They're in this for the long run. The Cup awaits.