diff --git a/cmd/start.go b/cmd/start.go
index 09d8c619a..d291c96af 100644
--- a/cmd/start.go
+++ b/cmd/start.go
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ const (
 	McpServerInitReqTimeoutSecEnvVar = "MCP_SERVER_INIT_REQ_TIMEOUT_SEC"
 
 	// McpServerInitRequestTimeoutSecondsDefault is the default timeout in seconds for MCP server initialization requests.
-	McpServerInitRequestTimeoutSecondsDefault = 10
+	McpServerInitRequestTimeoutSecondsDefault = 30
 
 	// SessionIdleTimeoutSecEnvVar is the environment variable for configuring the idle timeout for stateful sessions.
 	SessionIdleTimeoutSecEnvVar = "SESSION_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SEC"
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ var startServerCmd = &cobra.Command{
 		"For Postgres, you can also set individual connection details using the following environment variables:\n" +
 		"POSTGRES_HOST, POSTGRES_PORT (default 5432), POSTGRES_USER (default postgres), POSTGRES_PASSWORD, POSTGRES_DB (default postgres)\n\n" +
 		"You can also configure the amount of time (in seconds) mcpjungle will wait for a new MCP server's initialization before aborting it.\n" +
-		"Set the MCP_SERVER_INIT_REQ_TIMEOUT_SEC environment variable to an integer (default is 10).\n" +
+		"Set the MCP_SERVER_INIT_REQ_TIMEOUT_SEC environment variable to an integer (default is 30).\n" +
 		"This is useful when you register a MCP server (usually stdio, like filesystem) that may take some time to start up.\n\n" +
 		"Finally, you can also configure the idle timeout (in seconds) for stateful sessions.\n" +
 		"Set the SESSION_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SEC environment variable to an integer (default is -1, meaning no timeout).\n" +
diff --git a/internal/service/mcp/util.go b/internal/service/mcp/util.go
index 0573ba03e..c08d72ae3 100644
--- a/internal/service/mcp/util.go
+++ b/internal/service/mcp/util.go
@@ -267,7 +267,9 @@ func runStdioServer(ctx context.Context, s *model.McpServer, initReqTimeoutSec i
 		if errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf(
 				"initialization request to MCP server timed out after %d seconds,"+
-					" check mcpungle server logs for any errors from this MCP server",
+					" check mcpungle server logs for any errors from this MCP server"+
+					" update the MCP_SERVER_INIT_REQ_TIMEOUT_SEC env var to change the timeout,"+
+					" default is 30 seconds",
 				initReqTimeoutSec,
 			)
 		}