diff --git a/lib/defineRenderer.js b/lib/defineRenderer.js
index 3ee4995c8..ec94efc9b 100644
--- a/lib/defineRenderer.js
+++ b/lib/defineRenderer.js
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ function mergeExtendState(widgetState, widgetArgs) {
 
 module.exports = function defineRenderer(def) {
     var template = def.template;
+    var getInitialProps = def.getInitialProps;
     var getTemplateData = def.getTemplateData;
     var getInitialState = def.getInitialState;
     var getWidgetConfig = def.getWidgetConfig;
@@ -60,6 +61,8 @@ module.exports = function defineRenderer(def) {
                 input = {};
             }
 
+
+
             if (!loadedTemplate) {
                 loadedTemplate = template.render ? template : marko.load(template);
             }
@@ -86,15 +89,21 @@ module.exports = function defineRenderer(def) {
                                 input[k] = global.__rerenderState[k];
                             }
                         }
-                        widgetState = getInitialState(input);
                     } else {
                         // We are the first widget and we are not being extended
                         // and we are not extending so use the input as the state
                         widgetState = input;
+                        input = null;
                     }
-                } else {
-                    // We are not the top-level widget so we need to rebuild the state
-                    // from the provided input properties
+                }
+            }
+
+            if (!widgetState) {
+                if (getInitialProps) {
+                    input = getInitialProps(input, out) || {};
+                }
+
+                if (getInitialState) {
                     widgetState = getInitialState(input);
                 }
             }
@@ -115,7 +124,7 @@ module.exports = function defineRenderer(def) {
                 }
 
                 var existingWidget = getExistingWidget(out, widgetArgs);
-                
+
                 if (existingWidget && (existingWidget.constructor === def.constructor) && shouldReuseWidget(existingWidget, widgetState, input)) {
                     // console.log(module.id, 'Reusing existing widget ', existingWidget.id, 'New state: ', widgetState);
                     // Render a placeholder element as a marker that we can use to splice back in the existing
diff --git a/test/client/fixtures/components/app-getInitialProps/index.js b/test/client/fixtures/components/app-getInitialProps/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f50c1c54d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/client/fixtures/components/app-getInitialProps/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+module.exports = require('marko-widgets').defineWidget({
+    template: require.resolve('./template.marko'),
+    getInitialProps: function(input, out) {
+        var name = input.name;
+        return {
+            name: name.toUpperCase()
+        };
+    }
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/client/fixtures/components/app-getInitialProps/template.marko b/test/client/fixtures/components/app-getInitialProps/template.marko
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6401101d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/client/fixtures/components/app-getInitialProps/template.marko
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<div w-bind>
+    Hello ${data.name}!
+</div>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/client/spec-widget.js b/test/client/spec-widget.js
index c1c2e1577..a8d9375fa 100644
--- a/test/client/spec-widget.js
+++ b/test/client/spec-widget.js
@@ -200,6 +200,19 @@ describe('widget' , function() {
 
         expect(widget.lifecycleEvents).to.deep.equal(['onBeforeUpdate', 'onAfterUpdate', 'onBeforeDestroy', 'onDestroy']);
     });
+
+    it('should support getInitialProps', function() {
+        var targetEl = document.getElementById('target');
+
+        require('./fixtures/components/app-getInitialProps')
+            .render({
+                name: 'Frank'
+            })
+            .appendTo(targetEl)
+            .getWidget();
+
+        expect(targetEl.innerHTML).to.contain('Hello FRANK!');
+    });
 });