The aim of this paper is to refine, from a configurational perspective, the understanding of causal conditions underlying performance differences between new academic technology-based firms. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), a research strategy conceived to investigate parsimonious configurations that explain a given result of interest in small-N populations, was adopted as the methodological approach. The analyses were performed using a database related to 81 Brazilian academic spin-offs, pre-incubated by a governmental innovation promotion program. Based on the resultant configurations, parsimonious sets of variables for explaining the initial performance of these new ventures were obtained. Complementary findings and their respective implications are also discussed.