diff --git a/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.c b/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.c
index b28104b23..45f493aed 100644
--- a/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.c
+++ b/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.c
@@ -224,7 +224,6 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	printf("Total cores available: %d\n", rte_lcore_count());
 
 	opts.shutdown_cb = spdk_nvmf_shutdown_cb;
-	opts.start_fn = spdk_nvmf_startup;
 	spdk_app_init(&opts);
 
 	/* Blocks until the application is exiting */
diff --git a/include/spdk/event.h b/include/spdk/event.h
index 515263f4f..a535ef2ba 100644
--- a/include/spdk/event.h
+++ b/include/spdk/event.h
@@ -137,7 +137,6 @@ struct spdk_app_opts {
 	int instance_id;
 
 	spdk_app_shutdown_cb	shutdown_cb;
-	spdk_event_fn		start_fn;
 	spdk_sighandler_t	usr1_handler;
 
 	bool			enable_coredump;