The process of spin-off firm formation exerts a profound impact on industry evolution. One important trigger for spin-off formation is the impact that adverse events such as corporate restructuring or bankruptcy have on organizations. We explore, in the context of the Irish biotechnology industry, the mechanisms by which adverse events lead to spin-off formation. We show that an adverse event may create unanticipated opportunities for those employees who are in a position to exploit them. We contend this manner of spin-off formation does not fit neatly into the existing opportunity/necessity conceptualisation of spin-off formation. Contributions include the extension of existing spin-off typologies to include what we define as “opportunistic spin-offs”; and the identification of instances of adverse events that might lead to “opportunistic spin-offs”.