diff --git a/subscribe-list.service b/subscribe-list.service
index a916eba..06e4ac9 100644
--- a/subscribe-list.service
+++ b/subscribe-list.service
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Requires=subscribe-list.socket
 [Service]
 Environment=RUST_LOG=info
 Type=exec
-ExecStart=test -f /var/lib/subscribe-list/list.db
+ExecStartPre=test -f /var/lib/subscribe-list/list.db
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/subscribe-list --config /etc/subscribe-list/config.toml serve --listen-fd
 User=www-data
 Group=www-data