Traditional theory states that small companies that emerge from a university environment follow a distinctive pattern of development. Due to this view the companies start as technical consultancies selling expert reports which incorporate a high degree of intellectual analysis and in which the scientist's original academic expertise is focused on the specific problem of a client. There then follows a gradual process of development during which this initial product is reduced, first to a more routine analytical package and then into a design technique, before eventually emerging as a distinct and standardized product which embodies in simplified form the original expertise, but which is now suitable for repetitive manufacture. This pattern can be described as a ''hardening process'' and is paralleled in the development of the company through a series of ''soft'' stages. Based on a sample of 35 biotechnology start-ups of a German region called Berlin-Brandenburg information about the services and products offered by these firms will be discussed. We found no clear evidence that follows the above mentioned development pattern. In contrast, several firms started exclusively with products. The majority, however, offers both products and services. The latter mainly in R&D. A large number of the start-ups already has their product launched on the market. There are individual factors of the entrepreneur/the entrepreneurial team, as well as the environment of the firms, for example the strong competition in biotechnology, that forces firms to market their product early. In several cases these products are not for final use, but can be regarded as intermediate products within the biotechnical value added chain. Several firms exhibit a broad network including research institutions, small and large firms that might also determine the development pattern. Finally, even the state-of-the-art of the specific technology itself allows for some tentative conclusions to be drawn about product/service relationships within newly established firms.