diff --git a/changelog/v1.18.0-beta35/crdcheck.yaml b/changelog/v1.18.0-beta35/crdcheck.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c50b01d981f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/v1.18.0-beta35/crdcheck.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+changelog:
+  - type: NON_USER_FACING
+    description: >-
+      Fix CRD check to allow the group/kind to be missing.
diff --git a/pkg/schemes/extended_scheme.go b/pkg/schemes/extended_scheme.go
index 0e4cc557d98..69aaf372b86 100644
--- a/pkg/schemes/extended_scheme.go
+++ b/pkg/schemes/extended_scheme.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/solo-io/gloo/projects/gateway2/wellknown"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/discovery"
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ func CRDExists(restConfig *rest.Config, group, version, kind string) (bool, erro
 	groupVersion := fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", group, version)
 	apiResourceList, err := discoveryClient.ServerResourcesForGroupVersion(groupVersion)
 	if err != nil {
-		if discovery.IsGroupDiscoveryFailedError(err) || meta.IsNoMatchError(err) {
+		if errors.IsNotFound(err) || discovery.IsGroupDiscoveryFailedError(err) || meta.IsNoMatchError(err) {
 			return false, nil
 		}
 		return false, err
diff --git a/projects/gateway2/controller/start.go b/projects/gateway2/controller/start.go
index 787ee182c07..e9f7efd63ab 100644
--- a/projects/gateway2/controller/start.go
+++ b/projects/gateway2/controller/start.go
@@ -151,6 +151,8 @@ func NewControllerBuilder(ctx context.Context, cfg StartConfig) (*ControllerBuil
 		krt.WithName("AuthConfig"))
 
 	inputChannels := proxy_syncer.NewGatewayInputChannels()
+
+	setupLog.Info("initializing k8sgateway extensions")
 	k8sGwExtensions, err := cfg.ExtensionsFactory(ctx, ext.K8sGatewayExtensionsFactoryParameters{
 		Mgr:         mgr,
 		IstioClient: cfg.Client,
@@ -169,6 +171,7 @@ func NewControllerBuilder(ctx context.Context, cfg StartConfig) (*ControllerBuil
 	}
 
 	// Create the proxy syncer for the Gateway API resources
+	setupLog.Info("initializing proxy syncer")
 	proxySyncer := proxy_syncer.NewProxySyncer(
 		ctx,
 		cfg.InitialSettings,
@@ -188,7 +191,6 @@ func NewControllerBuilder(ctx context.Context, cfg StartConfig) (*ControllerBuil
 		cfg.SetupOpts.ProxyReconcileQueue,
 	)
 	proxySyncer.Init(ctx, cfg.Debugger)
-
 	if err := mgr.Add(proxySyncer); err != nil {
 		setupLog.Error(err, "unable to add proxySyncer runnable")
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/projects/gateway2/setup/ggv2setup.go b/projects/gateway2/setup/ggv2setup.go
index 8f2f1300244..e0bea7e7661 100644
--- a/projects/gateway2/setup/ggv2setup.go
+++ b/projects/gateway2/setup/ggv2setup.go
@@ -2,12 +2,11 @@ package setup
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
-	"errors"
-
 	"github.com/solo-io/gloo/pkg/utils/envutils"
 	"github.com/solo-io/gloo/pkg/utils/setuputils"
 	gloostatusutils "github.com/solo-io/gloo/pkg/utils/statusutils"
@@ -43,9 +42,7 @@ import (
 	ctrl "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime"
 )
 
-var (
-	settingsGVR = glookubev1.SchemeGroupVersion.WithResource("settings")
-)
+var settingsGVR = glookubev1.SchemeGroupVersion.WithResource("settings")
 
 func createKubeClient(restConfig *rest.Config) (istiokube.Client, error) {
 	restCfg := istiokube.NewClientConfigForRestConfig(restConfig)
@@ -77,15 +74,14 @@ func getInitialSettings(ctx context.Context, c istiokube.Client, nns types.Names
 		return nil
 	}
 	return out
-
 }
 
 func StartGGv2(ctx context.Context,
 	setupOpts *bootstrap.SetupOpts,
 	uccBuilder krtcollections.UniquelyConnectedClientsBulider,
 	extensionsFactory extensions.K8sGatewayExtensionsFactory,
-	pluginRegistryFactory func(opts registry.PluginOpts) plugins.PluginRegistryFactory) error {
-
+	pluginRegistryFactory func(opts registry.PluginOpts) plugins.PluginRegistryFactory,
+) error {
 	restConfig := ctrl.GetConfigOrDie()
 
 	return StartGGv2WithConfig(ctx, setupOpts, restConfig, uccBuilder, extensionsFactory, pluginRegistryFactory, setuputils.SetupNamespaceName())
@@ -164,6 +160,7 @@ func StartGGv2WithConfig(ctx context.Context,
 		Debugger: setupOpts.KrtDebugger,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
+		logger.Error("failed initializing controller: ", err)
 		return err
 	}
 	/// no collections after this point