diff --git a/tools/tm-bench/main.go b/tools/tm-bench/main.go
index f8a979fef..bad49cba5 100644
--- a/tools/tm-bench/main.go
+++ b/tools/tm-bench/main.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"math"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 	"text/tabwriter"
 	"time"
 
@@ -247,20 +248,21 @@ func startTransacters(
 ) []*transacter {
 	transacters := make([]*transacter, len(endpoints))
 
+	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
+	wg.Add(len(endpoints))
 	for i, e := range endpoints {
 		t := newTransacter(e, connections, txsRate, txSize, broadcastTxMethod)
 		t.SetLogger(logger)
-		if err := t.Start(); err != nil {
-			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
-			os.Exit(1)
-		}
-		transacters[i] = t
-	}
-
-	// Wait until all transacters have started firing txs
-	for _, t := range transacters {
-		t.WaitUntilAllConnectionsStartedFiringTxs()
+		go func(i int) {
+			defer wg.Done()
+			if err := t.Start(); err != nil {
+				fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
+				os.Exit(1)
+			}
+			transacters[i] = t
+		}(i)
 	}
+	wg.Wait()
 
 	return transacters
 }
diff --git a/tools/tm-bench/transacter.go b/tools/tm-bench/transacter.go
index b11c174fa..2834727b5 100644
--- a/tools/tm-bench/transacter.go
+++ b/tools/tm-bench/transacter.go
@@ -34,11 +34,11 @@ type transacter struct {
 	Connections       int
 	BroadcastTxMethod string
 
-	conns        []*websocket.Conn
-	connsStarted []bool
-	connsBroken  []bool
-	wg           sync.WaitGroup
-	stopped      bool
+	conns       []*websocket.Conn
+	connsBroken []bool
+	startingWg  sync.WaitGroup
+	endingWg    sync.WaitGroup
+	stopped     bool
 
 	logger log.Logger
 }
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ func newTransacter(target string, connections, rate int, size int, broadcastTxMe
 		Connections:       connections,
 		BroadcastTxMethod: broadcastTxMethod,
 		conns:             make([]*websocket.Conn, connections),
-		connsStarted:      make([]bool, connections),
 		connsBroken:       make([]bool, connections),
 		logger:            log.NewNopLogger(),
 	}
@@ -77,35 +76,22 @@ func (t *transacter) Start() error {
 		t.conns[i] = c
 	}
 
-	t.wg.Add(2 * t.Connections)
+	t.startingWg.Add(t.Connections)
+	t.endingWg.Add(2 * t.Connections)
 	for i := 0; i < t.Connections; i++ {
 		go t.sendLoop(i)
 		go t.receiveLoop(i)
 	}
 
-	return nil
-}
+	t.startingWg.Wait()
 
-// WaitUntilAllConnectionsStartedFiringTxs waits until all of this
-// transacters connections have begun sending txs at the specified rate
-func (t *transacter) WaitUntilAllConnectionsStartedFiringTxs() {
-	for {
-		started := true
-		for i := 0; i < t.Connections; i++ {
-			if !t.connsStarted[i] && !t.connsBroken[i] {
-				started = false
-			}
-		}
-		if started {
-			break
-		}
-	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 // Stop closes the connections.
 func (t *transacter) Stop() {
 	t.stopped = true
-	t.wg.Wait()
+	t.endingWg.Wait()
 	for _, c := range t.conns {
 		c.Close()
 	}
@@ -115,7 +101,7 @@ func (t *transacter) Stop() {
 // `broadcast_tx_async`).
 func (t *transacter) receiveLoop(connIndex int) {
 	c := t.conns[connIndex]
-	defer t.wg.Done()
+	defer t.endingWg.Done()
 	for {
 		_, _, err := c.ReadMessage()
 		if err != nil {
@@ -136,6 +122,13 @@ func (t *transacter) receiveLoop(connIndex int) {
 
 // sendLoop generates transactions at a given rate.
 func (t *transacter) sendLoop(connIndex int) {
+	started := false
+	// Close the starting waitgroup, in the event that this fails to start
+	defer func() {
+		if !started {
+			t.startingWg.Done()
+		}
+	}()
 	c := t.conns[connIndex]
 
 	c.SetPingHandler(func(message string) error {
@@ -157,7 +150,7 @@ func (t *transacter) sendLoop(connIndex int) {
 	defer func() {
 		pingsTicker.Stop()
 		txsTicker.Stop()
-		t.wg.Done()
+		t.endingWg.Done()
 	}()
 
 	// hash of the host name is a part of each tx
@@ -174,7 +167,10 @@ func (t *transacter) sendLoop(connIndex int) {
 			startTime := time.Now()
 			endTime := startTime.Add(time.Second)
 			numTxSent := t.Rate
-			t.connsStarted[connIndex] = true
+			if !started {
+				t.startingWg.Done()
+				started = true
+			}
 
 			for i := 0; i < t.Rate; i++ {
 				// each transaction embeds connection index, tx number and hash of the hostname