In his "Review of Modern Foreign Languages Provision in Higher Education in England", Michael Worton argues that to safeguard the health of their subjects, languages academics will need to establish "greater, sustainable collaborations" with a range of partners including "extra-educational organisations". For Worton's exhortation to languages academics to succeed, however, both cultural barriers to partnerships with external organisations and a lack of understanding and practical experience of so-called "third-stream" activity amongst languages academics need to be addressed. This article contributes to reducing the knowledge gap in this area by analysing the setting up and first year of operation of a collaboration in the area of blended language learning and training involving academics at Nottingham Trent University and a Nottingham-based small and medium sized enterprise (SME)--The Cool Creative Company Ltd. The paper focuses explicitly on the early stages of the relationship as it is often during this period that issues crucial to the success of collaborative third-stream activity, such as the aims and objectives of the partnership, organisational structure and questions of risk-sharing and reward, are addressed. It is also in this period that conflicts are most likely to arise. The article looks at the conflicts that occurred in the early stages of the collaboration and identifies the resources that were crucial to resolving them. It also evaluates the benefits of the initiative for the various players involved and the wider community within which they are located. It concludes with recommendations to languages academics considering a collaborative alliance with one or more private-sector partners.