The aim of this study is to analyze the process of academic spin‐off creation, identifying the barriers to suggest how to overcome them. For this purpose, a case study method was adopted, and as data‐collecting instruments, several in‐depth interviews and documentary analysis were used from three academic spin‐offs. The empirical evidence captures the different views of the founding researchers of the academic spin‐offs, the researching lecturers in the department creating the spin‐offs and the manager of the technology transfer office at the Portuguese university studied here. The results show that the different perceptions of barriers are seen to be solved through an internal strategy within the university. The findings also show that applied research should be valued in assessing lecturers, as it contributes, not only to the link with industry, and therefore to regional development, but also to universities' sustainability, overcoming the lack of financial support as a result of constant budget cuts. The contact networks resulting from universities' links with the different stakeholders will benefit the spin‐offs themselves, facilitating their survival in the first years of their life.