For the record, I spent 10 years running my own startups before I went back to grad school, so technically, I’m not “just out of college” in the traditional sense.

As for the willingness of executives to engage in “try before you buy” type programs, I agree — they’re less likely to do something like this. But, I’m not convinced that heavily experienced executives are the best talent for early-stage startups. Certainly, the experience can be helpful, but there are other cultural forces at play and often executives are simply not happy working in a startup. It sounds like a good idea to them at the time, but they later regret it. So, I’d argue that it’s just as important to make sure both sides have a clear idea of what the relationship is likely to deliver before taking the big leap of faith.