diff --git a/packages/validator/src/validator.ts b/packages/validator/src/validator.ts
index 706cf7410b43..785d3de1db2a 100644
--- a/packages/validator/src/validator.ts
+++ b/packages/validator/src/validator.ts
@@ -128,23 +128,17 @@ export class Validator {
     if (opts.closed) {
       this.state = Status.closed;
     } else {
-      // "start" the validator
-      // Instantiates block and attestation services and runs them once the chain has been started.
-      this.state = Status.running;
-      this.clock.start(this.controller.signal);
-      this.chainHeaderTracker.start(this.controller.signal);
-
       // Add notifier to warn user if primary node is unhealthy as there might
       // not be any errors in the logs due to fallback nodes handling the requests
       const {httpClient} = this.api;
       if (httpClient.urlsInits.length > 1) {
         const primaryNodeUrl = toSafePrintableUrl(httpClient.urlsInits[0].baseUrl);
 
-        this.clock?.runEveryEpoch(async () => {
+        this.clock.runEveryEpoch(async () => {
           // Only emit warning if URL score is 0 to prevent false positives
           // if just a single request fails which might happen due to other reasons
           if (httpClient.urlsScore[0] === 0) {
-            this.logger?.warn("Primary beacon node is unhealthy", {url: primaryNodeUrl});
+            this.logger.warn("Primary beacon node is unhealthy", {url: primaryNodeUrl});
           }
         });
       }
@@ -158,6 +152,11 @@ export class Validator {
             .catch((e) => this.logger.error("Error on fetchBeaconHealth", {}, e))
         );
       }
+
+      // "start" the validator
+      this.state = Status.running;
+      this.clock.start(this.controller.signal);
+      this.chainHeaderTracker.start(this.controller.signal);
     }
   }
 
@@ -178,8 +177,6 @@ export class Validator {
     let api: ApiClient;
     const {clientOrUrls, globalInit} = opts.api;
     if (typeof clientOrUrls === "string" || Array.isArray(clientOrUrls)) {
-      // This new api instance can make do with default timeout as a faster timeout is
-      // not necessary since this instance won't be used for validator duties
       api = getClient(
         {
           urls: typeof clientOrUrls === "string" ? [clientOrUrls] : clientOrUrls,
@@ -329,6 +326,7 @@ export class Validator {
       strictFeeRecipientCheck,
     });
 
+    // Instantiates block and attestation services and runs them once the chain has been started.
     return Validator.init(opts, genesis, metrics);
   }