The exits of Frank Plastina from Cree after the failed Wolfspeed spinoff and Jesse Lipson from Citrix which had built upon his SharefFile to build a powerful presence in Raleigh will prove to be good news for the Triangle’s economy. How so?

Well, look at the cases of Scot Wingo and Cindy Whitehead.

Also, look at their track records and their commitment to the entrepreneurial sector.

Wingo is returning to the ranks of CEO at a startup he has helped fund (Spiffy) after giving up his role as CEO at ChannelAdvisor. That startup CEO scratch is something serial entreprenerrs like Wingo simply have to scratch. (Jud Bowman, Bob Young, and so many others.)

Then there is Whitehead who sold Sprout for $1 billion and now is mentoring startups while launching a startup-focused center in North Hills and becoming an investor.

Now coming back are Plastina and Lipson.

As my colleage Lauren Ohnesorge at the Triangle Business Journal reported first on both stories this week (congrats to Lauren for her continued hard work and great reporting!), Plastina is taking a big buyout from Cree while Lipson will step down next month from a VP role at Citrix.

Lipson has already said he wants to return to his startup roots after taking some (well-deserved) time off.

What will that startup be?

Well, given that he and wife/partner Brooks Bell have quite a track record already as entrepreneurs from their days at Duke University through the launch of HQ Raleigh, it’s reasonable to expect the two will collaborate and come up with another winning idea.

As for Plastina, he told The Skinny right after the Wolfspeed deal was first announced last year that spending more time with entrepreneurs might be a possibility once that $850 million spin-off was completed.

Unfortunately for him, Cree and Infineon the U.S. government objected due to security concerns. The deal fell through.

Cree Chair and CEO Chuck Swoboda quickly announced last week that Wolfspeed would be folded back into Cree. So much for his plans to reboot the company.

However, Plastina won’t be part of Swoboda’s revamped Cree strategy. According to an SEC filing, Plastina is going to leave Cree where he has worked for several years as a board member and as the head of Wolfspeed.

So, Plastina will have some free time – and cash from his nice severance.

How might he invest that time and money?

Plastina is one of the biggest backers of the Blackstone Entreprenurial Network in the Triangle, a group of executives with strong tech backgrounds who provide counseling and mentoring to a growing list of startups.

And who knows. Plastina, who at one time led Tekelec and before that was a senior executive at Nortel, might get the itch to become a tech executive again. His strengths in communications technology are in demand as the world’s rush toward all-things-mobile continues.

So, as Lipson and Plastina look for new ventures, the Triangle’s booming startup community beckons.

That’s good news for all.