diff --git a/lightningd/plugin.c b/lightningd/plugin.c
index fc8a95c6e..9a7d18b77 100644
--- a/lightningd/plugin.c
+++ b/lightningd/plugin.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include <ccan/opt/opt.h>
 #include <ccan/pipecmd/pipecmd.h>
 #include <ccan/tal/str/str.h>
+#include <errno.h>
 #include <lightningd/json.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
@@ -408,6 +409,10 @@ void plugins_init(struct plugins *plugins)
 		cmd[1] = NULL;
 		p->pid = pipecmdarr(&stdout, &stdin, NULL, cmd);
 
+		if (p->pid == -1)
+			fatal("error starting plugin '%s': %s", p->cmd,
+			      strerror(errno));
+
 		list_head_init(&p->output);
 		p->buffer = tal_arr(p, char, 64);
 		p->used = 0;