diff --git a/pkg/semanticrelease/semantic-release.go b/pkg/semanticrelease/semantic-release.go
index 43efc5e..a18e946 100644
--- a/pkg/semanticrelease/semantic-release.go
+++ b/pkg/semanticrelease/semantic-release.go
@@ -83,8 +83,8 @@ func (s *SemanticRelease) GetNextVersion(provider *ci.ProviderConfig, force bool
 	firstRelease := false
 
 	if lastVersion == nil {
-		defaultVersion, _ := semver.NewVersion("1.0.0")
-		lastVersion = defaultVersion
+		lastVersion, _ = semver.NewVersion("1.0.0")
+		log.Infof("This is the first release, will set version to %s", lastVersion.String())
 		firstRelease = true
 	}
 
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ func (s *SemanticRelease) GetNextVersion(provider *ci.ProviderConfig, force bool
 		Commits: analyzedCommits,
 	}
 
+	if firstRelease {
+		releaseVersion.Last.Version, _ = semver.NewVersion("0.0.0")
+	}
+
 	log.Infof("New version %s -> %s", lastVersion.String(), newVersion.String())
 	err = cache.Write(s.repository, releaseVersion)
 	if err != nil {