  Within the $\alpha$-attractors framework we investigate scalar potentials
with the same pole as the one featured in the kinetic term. We show that, in
field space, this leads to directions without a plateau. Using this, we present
a proposal, which manages to overcome the initial conditions problem of
inflation with a plateau. An earlier period of proto-inflation, beginning at
Planck scale, accounts for the Universe expansion and arranges the required
initial conditions for inflation on the plateau to commence. We show that, if
proto-inflation is power-law, it does not suffer from a sub-Planckian eternal
inflationary stage, which would otherwise be a problem. A simple model
realisation is constructed in the context of $\alpha$-attractors, which can
both generate the inflationary plateau and the exponential slopes around it,
necessary for the two inflation stages. Our mechanism allows to assume chaotic
initial conditions at the Planck scale for proto-inflation, it is generic and
it is shown to work without fine-tuning.
