diff --git a/lib/flame/pool.ex b/lib/flame/pool.ex
index 9b341b0..a27eaf4 100644
--- a/lib/flame/pool.ex
+++ b/lib/flame/pool.ex
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ defmodule FLAME.Pool do
             on_grow_start: nil,
             on_grow_end: nil,
             on_shrink: nil,
-            async_boot_timer: nil
+            async_boot_timer: nil,
+            hotstart_threshold: 1
 
   def child_spec(opts) do
     %{
@@ -128,6 +129,10 @@ defmodule FLAME.Pool do
 
         * `:name` - The name of the pool
         * `:count` - The number of runners the pool is attempting to shrink to
+
+    * `:hotstart_threshold` - The percentage of pool utilisation before a new node is preemptively
+      added to the pool.
+      Should be a number 0 < n <= 1
   """
   def start_link(opts) do
     Keyword.validate!(opts, [
@@ -149,7 +154,8 @@ defmodule FLAME.Pool do
       :shutdown_timeout,
       :on_grow_start,
       :on_grow_end,
-      :on_shrink
+      :on_shrink,
+      :hotstart_threshold
     ])
 
     GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, opts, name: Keyword.fetch!(opts, :name))
@@ -330,7 +336,8 @@ defmodule FLAME.Pool do
       on_grow_start: opts[:on_grow_start],
       on_grow_end: opts[:on_grow_end],
       on_shrink: opts[:on_shrink],
-      runner_opts: runner_opts
+      runner_opts: runner_opts,
+      hotstart_threshold: Keyword.get(opts, :hotstart_threshold, 1)
     }
 
     {:ok, boot_runners(state)}
@@ -452,10 +459,13 @@ defmodule FLAME.Pool do
   defp checkout_runner(%Pool{} = state, deadline, from, monitor_ref \\ nil) do
     min_runner = min_runner(state)
     runner_count = runner_count(state)
+    threshold = state.max_concurrency * state.hotstart_threshold
 
     cond do
       runner_count == 0 || !min_runner ||
-          (min_runner.count == state.max_concurrency && runner_count < state.max) ->
+        (min_runner.count == state.max_concurrency && runner_count < state.max) ||
+          (threshold > 1 && min_runner.count > threshold) ->
+        # if the threshold is less than 1 you would get a recursive creation of new nodes
         if map_size(state.pending_runners) > 0 || state.async_boot_timer do
           waiting_in(state, deadline, from)
         else
diff --git a/test/flame_test.exs b/test/flame_test.exs
index 118ddc7..ddad3c2 100644
--- a/test/flame_test.exs
+++ b/test/flame_test.exs
@@ -58,6 +58,32 @@ defmodule FLAME.FLAMETest do
     assert new_pool == Supervisor.which_children(runner_sup)
   end
 
+  @tag runner: [min: 1, max: 2, max_concurrency: 8, hotstart_threshold: 0.5]
+  test "init boots min runners  and grows on demand",
+       %{runner_sup: runner_sup} = config do
+    min_pool = Supervisor.which_children(runner_sup)
+    assert [{:undefined, _pid, :worker, [FLAME.Runner]}] = min_pool
+    # execute against single runner
+    assert FLAME.call(config.test, fn -> :works end) == :works
+
+    # dynamically grows to max
+    _task1 = sim_long_running(config.test)
+    assert FLAME.call(config.test, fn -> :works end) == :works
+    assert Supervisor.which_children(runner_sup) == min_pool
+    _task2 = sim_long_running(config.test)
+    assert FLAME.call(config.test, fn -> :works end) == :works
+    _task3 = sim_long_running(config.test)
+    _task4 = sim_long_running(config.test)
+    _task5 = sim_long_running(config.test)
+    assert FLAME.call(config.test, fn -> :works end) == :works
+    # concurrency above hotstart threshold boots new runner
+    new_pool = Supervisor.which_children(runner_sup)
+    refute new_pool == min_pool
+    assert length(new_pool) == 2
+    # caller is now queued while waiting for available runner
+    assert new_pool == Supervisor.which_children(runner_sup)
+  end
+
   @tag runner: [min: 0, max: 1, max_concurrency: 2]
   test "concurrent calls on fully pending runners",
        %{runner_sup: runner_sup} = config do