diff --git a/connectd/connectd.c b/connectd/connectd.c
index 5f889ee9436f..06cc62af8253 100644
--- a/connectd/connectd.c
+++ b/connectd/connectd.c
@@ -793,6 +793,7 @@ static void try_connect_one_addr(struct connecting *connect)
  	int fd, af;
 	bool use_proxy = connect->daemon->use_proxy_always;
 	const struct wireaddr_internal *addr = &connect->addrs[connect->addrnum];
+	struct io_conn *conn;
 
 	/* In case we fail without a connection, make destroy_io_conn happy */
 	connect->conn = NULL;
@@ -875,9 +876,14 @@ static void try_connect_one_addr(struct connecting *connect)
 	/* This creates the new connection using our fd, with the initialization
 	 * function one of the above. */
 	if (use_proxy)
-		connect->conn = io_new_conn(connect, fd, conn_proxy_init, connect);
+		conn = io_new_conn(connect, fd, conn_proxy_init, connect);
 	else
-		connect->conn = io_new_conn(connect, fd, conn_init, connect);
+		conn = io_new_conn(connect, fd, conn_init, connect);
+
+	/* Careful!  io_new_conn can fail (immediate connect() failure), and
+	 * that frees connect. */
+	if (conn)
+		connect->conn = conn;
 }
 
 /*~ connectd is responsible for incoming connections, but it's the process of