diff --git a/x/incentives/client/cli/tx.go b/x/incentives/client/cli/tx.go
index e11997f4730c5e324b613b6a58a88ba5f2a7a78d..1df397d1e4b01ec32a30682e86a5fdd10ce21a58 100644
--- a/x/incentives/client/cli/tx.go
+++ b/x/incentives/client/cli/tx.go
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ func NewCreateGaugeCmd() *cobra.Command {
 				return err
 			}
 			if timeStr == "" { // empty start time
-				// do nothing
+				startTime = time.Unix(0, 0)
 			} else if timeUnix, err := strconv.ParseInt(timeStr, 10, 64); err == nil { // unix time
 				startTime = time.Unix(timeUnix, 0)
 			} else if timeRFC, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, timeStr); err == nil { // RFC time