Described herein are systems, methods, and software to reduce data plane disruption during a startup event for a virtual switch controller. In one example, during a startup event, applications are initiated on a virtual switch controller to configure the virtual switch. Once initiated, an application, which depends on one or more other applications, may hold configuration operations until notifications are received from the one or more other applications operating on the virtual switch controller. Once the notifications are received, the application may resume the required configuration operations.