diff --git a/examples/mongovector-vectorstore-example/README.md b/examples/mongovector-vectorstore-example/README.md
index f94d2d2ff..8ff357cfc 100644
--- a/examples/mongovector-vectorstore-example/README.md
+++ b/examples/mongovector-vectorstore-example/README.md
@@ -32,6 +32,6 @@ For more information on getting started with MongoDB Atlas, visit the [MongoDB A
    export MONGODB_URI=<your_mongodb_uri>
    export OPENAI_API_KEY=<your_openai_api_key>
   
-2. If you want to run this using docker-compose.yml, `MONGODB_URI` should be `localhost:27017`: `docker-compose up -d`
+2. If you want to run this using docker-compose.yml, `MONGODB_URI` should be `mongodb://localhost:27017/?directConnection=true`: `docker-compose up -d`
 
-3. Run the program: `go run main.go`
+3. Run the program: `go run mongovector_vectorstore_example.go`
diff --git a/examples/mongovector-vectorstore-example/mongovector_vectorstore_example.go b/examples/mongovector-vectorstore-example/mongovector_vectorstore_example.go
index dbf3af67e..dd3f14198 100644
--- a/examples/mongovector-vectorstore-example/mongovector_vectorstore_example.go
+++ b/examples/mongovector-vectorstore-example/mongovector_vectorstore_example.go
@@ -61,12 +61,20 @@ func main() {
 			Similarity:    similarityAlgorithm,
 		})
 
+		// Create the vectorstore collection
+		err = client.Database(databaseName).CreateCollection(context.Background(), collectionName)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Fatalf("failed to create vector store collection: %w", err)
+		}
+
 		_, err = createVectorSearchIndex(context.Background(), coll, indexDP1536, fields...)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Fatalf("faield to create index: %v", err)
 		}
 	}
 
+	return
+
 	// Create an embeddings client using the OpenAI API. Requires environment
 	// variable OPENAI_API_KEY to be set.
 	llm, err := openai.New(openai.WithEmbeddingModel(openAIEmbeddingModel))
@@ -235,6 +243,10 @@ func searchIndexExists(ctx context.Context, coll *mongo.Collection, idx string)
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to list search indexes: %w", err)
 	}
 
+	if cursor == nil || cursor.Current == nil {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+
 	name := cursor.Current.Lookup("name").StringValue()
 	queryable := cursor.Current.Lookup("queryable").Boolean()