diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0ea720c..e7517ea 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -151,6 +151,11 @@ nexe.compile({
 	resourceRoot: [ 'path/' ], // where to embed the resourceFiles.
 	flags: true, // use this for applications that need command line flags.
 	jsFlags: "--use_strict", // v8 flags
+	startupSnapshot: 'path/to/snapshot.js', // when you want to specify a script to be
+											// added to V8's startup snapshot. This V8
+											// feature deserializes a heap to save startup time.
+											// More information in this blog post:
+											// http://v8project.blogspot.de/2015/09/custom-startup-snapshots.html
 	framework: "node" // node, nodejs, or iojs
 }, function(err) {
 	if(err) {
diff --git a/lib/exe.js b/lib/exe.js
index 20bd95a..b8ae6e2 100644
--- a/lib/exe.js
+++ b/lib/exe.js
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ exports.compile = function(options, complete) {
      */
 
     function monkeyPatchNodeConfig(next) {
-      _monkeyPatchNodeConfig(nodeCompiler, next);
+      _monkeyPatchNodeConfig(nodeCompiler, next, options);
     },
 
     /**
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ function _getNodeCompiler(nodeFileDir, nodeConfigureArgs, nodeMakeArgs, nodeVCBu
           if (!nodeVCBuildArgs || !nodeVCBuildArgs.length) {
             nodeVCBuildArgs = [ "nosign" ]; // "release" is already the default config value in VCBuild.bat
           }
-          
+
           // spawn a vcbuild process with our custom enviroment.
           var vcbuild = spawn("vcbuild.bat", nodeVCBuildArgs, {
             cwd: dir,
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ function _getNodeCompiler(nodeFileDir, nodeConfigureArgs, nodeMakeArgs, nodeVCBu
 /**
  */
 
-function _monkeyPatchNodeConfig(compiler, complete) {
+function _monkeyPatchNodeConfig(compiler, complete, options) {
   async.waterfall([
     /**
      * monkeypatch the gyp file to include the nexe.js and nexeres.js files
@@ -626,6 +626,14 @@ function _monkeyPatchNodeConfig(compiler, complete) {
       _monkeyPatchGyp(compiler, next)
     },
 
+    /**
+     * patch the configure file to allow for custom startup snapshots
+     */
+
+    function(next) {
+      _monkeyPatchConfigure(compiler, next, options);
+    },
+
     /**
      * monkeypatch main entry point
      */
@@ -655,6 +663,35 @@ function _monkeyPatchGyp(compiler, complete) {
   )
 }
 
+
+/**
+ * patch the configure file to allow for custom startup snapshots
+ */
+
+function _monkeyPatchConfigure(compiler, complete, options) {
+  var configurePath = path.join(compiler.dir, "configure");
+  var snapshotPath = options.startupSnapshot;
+
+  if (snapshotPath != null) {
+    _log('monkey patching configure file');
+    snapshotPath = path.join(process.cwd(), snapshotPath);
+    _monkeypatch(
+      configurePath,
+      function(content) {
+        return ~content.indexOf("embed_script");
+      },
+      function(content, next) {
+        next(null, content.replace(
+          "def configure_v8(o):",
+          `def configure_v8(o):\n  o['variables']['embed_script'] = '${snapshotPath}'\n  o['variables']['warmup_script'] = '${snapshotPath}'`));
+      },
+      complete
+    )
+  }
+
+  return complete();
+}
+
 /**
  */