diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index fc8f58c1d7..fa58004736 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1072,8 +1072,8 @@ github.com/turbot/go-prompt v0.2.6-steampipe.0.0.20221028122246-eb118ec58d50 h1:
 github.com/turbot/go-prompt v0.2.6-steampipe.0.0.20221028122246-eb118ec58d50/go.mod h1:vFnjEGDIIA/Lib7giyE4E9c50Lvl8j0S+7FVlAwDAVw=
 github.com/turbot/steampipe-cloud-sdk-go v0.6.0 h1:ufAxOpKS1uq7eejuE5sfEu1+d7QAd0RBjl8Bn6+mIs8=
 github.com/turbot/steampipe-cloud-sdk-go v0.6.0/go.mod h1:M42TMBdMim4bV1YTMxhKyzfSGSMo4CXUkm3wt9w7t1Y=
-github.com/turbot/steampipe-plugin-sdk/v5 v5.6.0-dev.16 h1:61HPiCofKxRCr+PL/Cf3lROa/rQdF4oNvQyoTHn1Q5o=
-github.com/turbot/steampipe-plugin-sdk/v5 v5.6.0-dev.16/go.mod h1:Np0X1Oj3JNTcuf9JmvWwHrCqc0UB4iJLmUlOkRwMCWw=
+github.com/turbot/steampipe-plugin-sdk/v5 v5.6.0-dev.13 h1:ertavdOZLsu45h8H6R0A07W/SGmQYA5m7PrR5Fo4t+8=
+github.com/turbot/steampipe-plugin-sdk/v5 v5.6.0-dev.13/go.mod h1:aCOVDbfgl/y/vGUaEKkzi9jBrNerEN46l88DkQUu3Vw=
 github.com/twitchyliquid64/golang-asm v0.15.1 h1:SU5vSMR7hnwNxj24w34ZyCi/FmDZTkS4MhqMhdFk5YI=
 github.com/twitchyliquid64/golang-asm v0.15.1/go.mod h1:a1lVb/DtPvCB8fslRZhAngC2+aY1QWCk3Cedj/Gdt08=
 github.com/ugorji/go v0.0.0-20180813092308-00b869d2f4a5/go.mod h1:hnLbHMwcvSihnDhEfx2/BzKp2xb0Y+ErdfYcrs9tkJQ=
diff --git a/pkg/pluginmanager_service/plugin_manager.go b/pkg/pluginmanager_service/plugin_manager.go
index 8731fd1639..8591b539c8 100644
--- a/pkg/pluginmanager_service/plugin_manager.go
+++ b/pkg/pluginmanager_service/plugin_manager.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"crypto/md5"
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/turbot/steampipe-plugin-sdk/v5/sperr"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
@@ -127,7 +128,7 @@ func (m *PluginManager) Get(req *pb.GetRequest) (*pb.GetResponse, error) {
 		reattach, err := m.ensurePlugin(pluginName, connectionConfigs, req)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Printf("[WARN] PluginManager Get failed for %s: %s (%p)", pluginName, err.Error(), resp)
-			resp.FailureMap[pluginName] = err.Error()
+			resp.FailureMap[pluginName] = sperr.WrapWithMessage(err, "failed to start '%s'", pluginName).Error()
 		} else {
 			log.Printf("[TRACE] PluginManager Get succeeded for %s, pid %d (%p)", pluginName, reattach.Pid, resp)
 
@@ -452,10 +453,10 @@ func (m *PluginManager) startPlugin(pluginName string, connectionConfigs []*sdkp
 			// close failed chan to signal to anyone waiting for the plugin to startup that it failed
 			close(startingPlugin.failed)
 
-			log.Printf("[WARN] startPluginProcess failed: %s (%p)", err.Error(), req)
+			log.Printf("[INFO] startPluginProcess failed: %s (%p)", err.Error(), req)
 			// kill the client
 			if startingPlugin.client != nil {
-				log.Printf("[WARN] failed pid: %d (%p)", startingPlugin.client.ReattachConfig().Pid, req)
+				log.Printf("[INFO] failed pid: %d (%p)", startingPlugin.client.ReattachConfig().Pid, req)
 				startingPlugin.client.Kill()
 			}
 
@@ -557,6 +558,7 @@ func (m *PluginManager) startPluginProcess(pluginName string, connectionConfigs
 	})
 
 	if _, err := client.Start(); err != nil {
+		err := m.handleStartFailure(err)
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
@@ -589,7 +591,7 @@ func (m *PluginManager) initializePlugin(connectionConfigs []*sdkproto.Connectio
 	if supportedOperations == nil {
 		supportedOperations = &sdkproto.GetSupportedOperationsResponse{}
 	}
-	// if this plugin does not support multiple connections, we no longer support is
+	// if this plugin does not support multiple connections, we no longer support it
 	if !supportedOperations.MultipleConnections {
 		// TODO SEND NOTIFICATION TO CLI
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("plugins which do not supprt multiple connections (using SDK version < v4) are no longer supported. Upgrade plugin '%s", pluginName)
@@ -605,18 +607,16 @@ func (m *PluginManager) initializePlugin(connectionConfigs []*sdkproto.Connectio
 	// this returns a list of all connections provided by this plugin
 	err = m.setAllConnectionConfigs(connectionConfigs, pluginClient, supportedOperations)
 	if err != nil {
-		// return retryable error
 		log.Printf("[WARN] failed to set connection config for %s: %s", pluginName, err.Error())
-		return nil, retry.RetryableError(err)
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	// if this plugin supports setting cache options, do so
 	if supportedOperations.SetCacheOptions {
 		err = m.setCacheOptions(pluginClient)
 		if err != nil {
-			// return retryable error
 			log.Printf("[WARN] failed to set cache options for %s: %s", pluginName, err.Error())
-			return nil, retry.RetryableError(err)
+			return nil, err
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -625,8 +625,7 @@ func (m *PluginManager) initializePlugin(connectionConfigs []*sdkproto.Connectio
 	// if this plugin has a dynamic schema, add connections to message server
 	err = m.notifyNewDynamicSchemas(pluginClient, exemplarConnectionConfig, connectionNames)
 	if err != nil {
-		// send err down running plugin error channel
-		return nil, retry.RetryableError(err)
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	log.Printf("[INFO] initializePlugin complete pid %d", client.ReattachConfig().Pid)
@@ -813,6 +812,24 @@ func (m *PluginManager) nonAggregatorConnectionCount() int {
 	return res
 }
 
+func (m *PluginManager) handleStartFailure(err error) error {
+	// extract the plugin message
+	_, pluginMessage, found := strings.Cut(err.Error(), sdkplugin.UnrecognizedRemotePluginMessage)
+	if !found {
+		return err
+	}
+	pluginMessage, _, found = strings.Cut(pluginMessage, sdkplugin.UnrecognizedRemotePluginMessageSuffix)
+	if !found {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// if this was a panic during startup, reraise an error with the panic string
+	if strings.Contains(pluginMessage, sdkplugin.StartupPanicMessage) {
+		return fmt.Errorf(pluginMessage)
+	}
+	return err
+}
+
 func nonAggregatorConnectionCount(connections []*sdkproto.ConnectionConfig) int {
 	res := 0
 	for _, c := range connections {