1) Subject matter expert. If you know a business/customer domain well, you're a decade ahead of fresh college grads. Many folks who have run their own busines

1) Subject matter expert. If you know a business/customer domain well, you're a decade ahead of fresh college grads. Many folks who have run their own businesses have invaluable insight into the pragmatics of staying alive in ways that a MBA just don't teach. This is especially true in contracting (e.g. engineering serices or military procurement). Knowing regulatory hurdles and how to navigate them is invaluable in domains where products/ services are constrained by formal processes (GLP, GMP, FDA, etc). 2) Rainmaker - writer of proposals and attractor of funding for new projects. This is an acquired skill (through experience of contract writing, practice in the domain, past business contacts, and knowledge of feasible business margins). In businesses where contracts are the life blood, this role is simply the most important person(s) in the shop. And this work is almost never done by folks with less than a ~decade of experience.