diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-cloud-function/src/ApolloServer.ts b/packages/apollo-server-cloud-function/src/ApolloServer.ts
index 94e358e3e79..ea8ad6df2e2 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-cloud-function/src/ApolloServer.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-cloud-function/src/ApolloServer.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
   }
 
   public createHandler({ cors }: CreateHandlerOptions = { cors: undefined }) {
+    // We will kick off the `willStart` event once for the server, and then
+    // await it before processing any requests by incorporating its `await` into
+    // the GraphQLServerOptions function which is called before each request.
+    const promiseWillStart = this.willStart();
+
     const corsHeaders = {} as Record<string, any>;
 
     if (cors) {
@@ -132,10 +137,17 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
 
       res.set(corsHeaders);
 
-      graphqlCloudFunction(this.createGraphQLServerOptions.bind(this))(
-        req,
-        res,
-      );
+      graphqlCloudFunction(async () => {
+        // In a world where this `createHandler` was async, we might avoid this
+        // but since we don't want to introduce a breaking change to this API
+        // (by switching it to `async`), we'll leverage the
+        // `GraphQLServerOptions`, which are dynamically built on each request,
+        // to `await` the `promiseWillStart` which we kicked off at the top of
+        // this method to ensure that it runs to completion (which is part of
+        // its contract) prior to processing the request.
+        await promiseWillStart;
+        return this.createGraphQLServerOptions(req, res);
+      })(req, res);
     };
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-cloudflare/src/ApolloServer.ts b/packages/apollo-server-cloudflare/src/ApolloServer.ts
index bb2ce9fe49a..ebf32449992 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-cloudflare/src/ApolloServer.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-cloudflare/src/ApolloServer.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
   }
 
   public async listen() {
+    await this.willStart();
     const graphql = this.createGraphQLServerOptions.bind(this);
     addEventListener('fetch', (event: FetchEvent) => {
       event.respondWith(graphqlCloudflare(graphql)(event.request));
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-express/src/ApolloServer.ts b/packages/apollo-server-express/src/ApolloServer.ts
index 2205414cb21..d066f0a9e29 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-express/src/ApolloServer.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-express/src/ApolloServer.ts
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
     return true;
   }
 
+  // TODO: While `express` is not Promise-aware, this should become `async` in
+  // a major release in order to align the API with other integrations (e.g.
+  // Hapi) which must be `async`.
   public applyMiddleware({
     app,
     path,
@@ -94,6 +97,23 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
   }: ServerRegistration) {
     if (!path) path = '/graphql';
 
+    // Despite the fact that this `applyMiddleware` function is `async` in
+    // other integrations (e.g. Hapi), currently it is not for Express (@here).
+    // That should change in a future version, but that would be a breaking
+    // change right now (see comment above this method's declaration above).
+    //
+    // That said, we do need to await the `willStart` lifecycle event which
+    // can perform work prior to serving a request.  Since Express doesn't
+    // natively support Promises yet, we'll do this via a middleware that
+    // calls `next` when the `willStart` finishes.  We'll kick off the
+    // `willStart` right away, so hopefully it'll finish before the first
+    // request comes in, but we won't call `next` on this middleware until it
+    // does. (And we'll take care to surface any errors via the `.catch`-able.)
+    const promiseWillStart = this.willStart();
+    app.use(path, (_req, _res, next) => {
+      promiseWillStart.then(() => next()).catch(next);
+    });
+
     if (!disableHealthCheck) {
       // uses same path as engine proxy, but is generally useful.
       app.use('/.well-known/apollo/server-health', (req, res) => {
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-hapi/src/ApolloServer.ts b/packages/apollo-server-hapi/src/ApolloServer.ts
index 77b60ce36c1..5bc2ca8adb7 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-hapi/src/ApolloServer.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-hapi/src/ApolloServer.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
     disableHealthCheck,
     onHealthCheck,
   }: ServerRegistration) {
+    await this.willStart();
+
     if (!path) path = '/graphql';
 
     await app.ext({
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-koa/src/ApolloServer.ts b/packages/apollo-server-koa/src/ApolloServer.ts
index 8f3c7631139..3f92102598b 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-koa/src/ApolloServer.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-koa/src/ApolloServer.ts
@@ -74,6 +74,10 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
     return true;
   }
 
+  // TODO: While Koa is Promise-aware, this API hasn't been historically, even
+  // though other integration's (e.g. Hapi) implementations of this method
+  // are `async`.  Therefore, this should become `async` in a major release in
+  // order to align the API with other integrations.
   public applyMiddleware({
     app,
     path,
@@ -84,6 +88,26 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
   }: ServerRegistration) {
     if (!path) path = '/graphql';
 
+    // Despite the fact that this `applyMiddleware` function is `async` in
+    // other integrations (e.g. Hapi), currently it is not for Koa (@here).
+    // That should change in a future version, but that would be a breaking
+    // change right now (see comment above this method's declaration above).
+    //
+    // That said, we do need to await the `willStart` lifecycle event which
+    // can perform work prior to serving a request.  While we could do this
+    // via awaiting in a Koa middleware, well kick off `willStart` right away,
+    // so hopefully it'll finish before the first request comes in.  We won't
+    // call `next` until it's ready, which will effectively yield until that
+    // work has finished.  Any errors will be surfaced to Koa through its own
+    // native Promise-catching facilities.
+    const promiseWillStart = this.willStart();
+    app.use(
+      middlewareFromPath(path, async (_ctx: Koa.Context, next: Function) => {
+        await promiseWillStart;
+        return next();
+      }),
+    );
+
     if (!disableHealthCheck) {
       // uses same path as engine proxy, but is generally useful.
       app.use(
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-lambda/src/ApolloServer.ts b/packages/apollo-server-lambda/src/ApolloServer.ts
index 396a4d1ad35..62158301167 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-lambda/src/ApolloServer.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-lambda/src/ApolloServer.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,11 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
   }
 
   public createHandler({ cors }: CreateHandlerOptions = { cors: undefined }) {
+    // We will kick off the `willStart` event once for the server, and then
+    // await it before processing any requests by incorporating its `await` into
+    // the GraphQLServerOptions function which is called before each request.
+    const promiseWillStart = this.willStart();
+
     const corsHeaders: lambda.APIGatewayProxyResult['headers'] = {};
 
     if (cors) {
@@ -156,11 +161,17 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
         );
       };
 
-      graphqlLambda(this.createGraphQLServerOptions.bind(this))(
-        event,
-        context,
-        callbackFilter,
-      );
+      graphqlLambda(async () => {
+        // In a world where this `createHandler` was async, we might avoid this
+        // but since we don't want to introduce a breaking change to this API
+        // (by switching it to `async`), we'll leverage the
+        // `GraphQLServerOptions`, which are dynamically built on each request,
+        // to `await` the `promiseWillStart` which we kicked off at the top of
+        // this method to ensure that it runs to completion (which is part of
+        // its contract) prior to processing the request.
+        await promiseWillStart;
+        return this.createGraphQLServerOptions(event, context);
+      })(event, context, callbackFilter);
     };
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-micro/src/ApolloServer.ts b/packages/apollo-server-micro/src/ApolloServer.ts
index 1db04cf3f0f..220f2e090b6 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-micro/src/ApolloServer.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-micro/src/ApolloServer.ts
@@ -30,9 +30,15 @@ export class ApolloServer extends ApolloServerBase {
     disableHealthCheck,
     onHealthCheck,
   }: ServerRegistration = {}) {
+    // We'll kick off the `willStart` right away, so hopefully it'll finish
+    // before the first request comes in.
+    const promiseWillStart = this.willStart();
+
     return async (req, res) => {
       this.graphqlPath = path || '/graphql';
 
+      await promiseWillStart;
+
       await this.handleFileUploads(req);
 
       (await this.handleHealthCheck({