University spin-outs and their management challenges

University spin-outs are increasingly in the spotlight. Inherent differences in attitude and skills between academia and managers of commercial business have resulted in some very poor quality spin-outs. The author examines why academic spin-outs are not as successful as they could be. He concludes that universities can and do have successful spin-outs from which to build their endowments, if they create a proper framework and management structure which filters and allocates technology transfer resources and creates suitable separation of academic staff and spinout staff plus providing an appropriate risk/reward compensation scheme.