Why do inventors and top scientists from leading universities exploit their research results differently from others? Why do apparently similar laboratory experiences make "academic entrepreneurs" achieve different entrepreneurial goals? Does the academic experience have an influence on the willingness to spin off? Or is that willingness simply driven by the possession of a particular scientific formula? The principal aim of this study is to answer these questions by examining the conditions under which academic scientists can commercialize their knowledge through an entrepreneurial development of their scientific results in the form of spin-off firms. (Contains 6 notes.)