diff --git a/hack/local-up-cluster.sh b/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
index 7e1de11ae71..0c410eb7c32 100755
--- a/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
+++ b/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
@@ -807,9 +807,11 @@ function start_kubelet {
 function start_kubeproxy {
     PROXY_LOG=${LOG_DIR}/kube-proxy.log
 
-    # wait for kubelet collect node information
-    echo "wait kubelet ready"
-    wait_node_ready
+    if [[ "${START_MODE}" != "nokubelet" ]]; then
+      # wait for kubelet collect node information
+      echo "wait kubelet ready"
+      wait_node_ready
+    fi
 
     cat <<EOF > /tmp/kube-proxy.yaml
 apiVersion: kubeproxy.config.k8s.io/v1alpha1