diff --git a/spectrum/src/frontends/slack/SlackRTM.cpp b/spectrum/src/frontends/slack/SlackRTM.cpp
index bbaf42846e41a6ddb3e5a8a9ea386ff74006758d..5d28bc5472890cf3a35f44fa71fea7e80c2c29ae 100644
--- a/spectrum/src/frontends/slack/SlackRTM.cpp
+++ b/spectrum/src/frontends/slack/SlackRTM.cpp
@@ -56,12 +56,6 @@ SlackRTM::SlackRTM(Component *component, StorageBackend *storageBackend, SlackId
 	m_storageBackend->getUserSetting(m_uinfo.id, "bot_token", type, m_token);
 
 	m_api = new SlackAPI(component, m_idManager, m_token);
-
-	std::string url = "https://slack.com/api/rtm.start?";
-	url += "token=" + Util::urlencode(m_token);
-
-	HTTPRequest *req = new HTTPRequest(THREAD_POOL(m_component), HTTPRequest::Get, url, boost::bind(&SlackRTM::handleRTMStart, this, _1, _2, _3, _4));
-	req->execute();
 }
 
 SlackRTM::~SlackRTM() {
@@ -70,6 +64,14 @@ SlackRTM::~SlackRTM() {
 	m_pingTimer->stop();
 }
 
+void SlackRTM::start() {
+	std::string url = "https://slack.com/api/rtm.start?";
+	url += "token=" + Util::urlencode(m_token);
+
+	HTTPRequest *req = new HTTPRequest(THREAD_POOL(m_component), HTTPRequest::Get, url, boost::bind(&SlackRTM::handleRTMStart, this, _1, _2, _3, _4));
+	req->execute();
+}
+
 #define STORE_STRING(FROM, NAME) rapidjson::Value &NAME##_tmp = FROM[#NAME]; \
 	if (!NAME##_tmp.IsString()) {  \
 		LOG4CXX_ERROR(logger, "No '" << #NAME << "' string in the reply."); \