diff --git a/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_misc.c b/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_misc.c
index 4b80c8db3..1aa423ef4 100644
--- a/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_misc.c
+++ b/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_misc.c
@@ -18,3 +18,45 @@ ftl_mngt_check_conf(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt)
 		ftl_mngt_fail_step(mngt);
 	}
 }
+
+static void
+user_clear_cb(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_md *md, int status)
+{
+	struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt = md->owner.cb_ctx;
+
+	if (status) {
+		FTL_ERRLOG(ftl_mngt_get_dev(mngt), "FTL NV Cache: ERROR of clearing user cache data\n");
+		ftl_mngt_fail_step(mngt);
+	} else {
+		ftl_mngt_next_step(mngt);
+	}
+}
+
+void
+ftl_mngt_scrub_nv_cache(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt)
+{
+	struct ftl_layout_region *region = &dev->layout.region[FTL_LAYOUT_REGION_TYPE_DATA_NVC];
+	struct ftl_md *md = dev->layout.md[FTL_LAYOUT_REGION_TYPE_DATA_NVC];
+	union ftl_md_vss vss;
+
+	FTL_NOTICELOG(dev, "First startup needs to scrub nv cache data region, this may take some time.\n");
+	FTL_NOTICELOG(dev, "Scrubbing %lluGiB\n", region->current.blocks * FTL_BLOCK_SIZE / GiB);
+
+	/* Need to scrub user data, so in case of dirty shutdown the recovery won't
+	 * pull in data during open chunks recovery from any previous instance
+	 */
+	md->cb = user_clear_cb;
+	md->owner.cb_ctx = mngt;
+
+	vss.version.md_version = region->current.version;
+	vss.nv_cache.lba = FTL_ADDR_INVALID;
+	ftl_md_clear(md, 0, &vss);
+}
+
+void
+ftl_mngt_finalize_startup(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt)
+{
+	dev->initialized = 1;
+
+	ftl_mngt_next_step(mngt);
+}
diff --git a/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_shutdown.c b/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_shutdown.c
index 7f4f014a4..917ac0ed8 100644
--- a/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_shutdown.c
+++ b/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_shutdown.c
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@
 #include "ftl_mngt.h"
 #include "ftl_mngt_steps.h"
 
+/*
+ * Steps executed during clean shutdown - includes persisting metadata and rolling
+ * back any setup steps executed during startup (closing bdevs, io channels, etc)
+ */
 static const struct ftl_mngt_process_desc desc_shutdown = {
 	.name = "FTL shutdown",
 	.error_handler = ftl_mngt_rollback_device,
diff --git a/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_startup.c b/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_startup.c
index 1bf19e699..2f36f3385 100644
--- a/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_startup.c
+++ b/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_startup.c
@@ -8,7 +8,23 @@
 #include "ftl_mngt_steps.h"
 
 static const struct ftl_mngt_process_desc desc_startup;
+static const struct ftl_mngt_process_desc desc_first_start;
 
+static void
+ftl_mngt_select_startup_mode(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev,
+			     struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt)
+{
+	if (dev->conf.mode & SPDK_FTL_MODE_CREATE) {
+		ftl_mngt_call_process(mngt, &desc_first_start);
+	} else {
+		ftl_mngt_fail_step(mngt);
+	}
+}
+
+/*
+ * Common startup steps required by FTL in all cases (creation, load, dirty shutdown recovery).
+ * Includes actions like opening the devices, calculating the expected size and version of metadata, etc.
+ */
 static const struct ftl_mngt_process_desc desc_startup = {
 	.name = "FTL startup",
 	.steps = {
@@ -35,6 +51,30 @@ static const struct ftl_mngt_process_desc desc_startup = {
 			.action = ftl_mngt_init_md,
 			.cleanup = ftl_mngt_deinit_md
 		},
+		{
+			.name = "Select startup mode",
+			.action = ftl_mngt_select_startup_mode
+		},
+		{}
+	}
+};
+
+/*
+ * Steps executed when creating FTL for the first time - most important being scrubbing
+ * old data/metadata (so it's not leaked during dirty shutdown recovery) and laying out
+ * regions for the new metadata (initializing band states, etc).
+ */
+static const struct ftl_mngt_process_desc desc_first_start = {
+	.name = "FTL first start",
+	.steps = {
+		{
+			.name = "Scrub NV cache",
+			.action = ftl_mngt_scrub_nv_cache,
+		},
+		{
+			.name = "Finalize initialization",
+			.action = ftl_mngt_finalize_startup,
+		},
 		{}
 	}
 };
diff --git a/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_steps.h b/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_steps.h
index b198eecc0..a3cc98d64 100644
--- a/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_steps.h
+++ b/lib/ftl/mngt/ftl_mngt_steps.h
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ void ftl_mngt_open_cache_bdev(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process
 
 void ftl_mngt_close_cache_bdev(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt);
 
+void ftl_mngt_scrub_nv_cache(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt);
+
+void ftl_mngt_finalize_startup(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt);
+
 void ftl_mngt_init_layout(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt);
 
 void ftl_mngt_init_md(struct spdk_ftl_dev *dev, struct ftl_mngt_process *mngt);