diff --git a/src/contributors/prompt.js b/src/contributors/prompt.js
index 89555b8..f3bdbe7 100644
--- a/src/contributors/prompt.js
+++ b/src/contributors/prompt.js
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ function getQuestions(options, username, contributions) {
         options.repoType,
       )} username?`,
       when: !username,
+      validate: function validate(input) {
+        if (!input) {
+          return 'Username not provided'
+        }
+        return true
+      },
     },
     {
       type: 'checkbox',
@@ -88,7 +94,6 @@ function getValidUserContributions(options, contributions) {
       `${invalidUserContributions.toString()} is/are invalid contribution type(s)`,
     )
   }
-
   return validUserContributions
 }
 
diff --git a/src/repo/__tests__/github.js b/src/repo/__tests__/github.js
index e291b4e..478d50a 100644
--- a/src/repo/__tests__/github.js
+++ b/src/repo/__tests__/github.js
@@ -65,6 +65,30 @@ test('handle errors', async () => {
   await rejects(getUserInfo('nodisplayname'))
 })
 
+test('Throw error when no username is provided', () => {
+  expect(getUserInfo).toThrow(
+    'No login when adding a contributor. Please specify a username.',
+  )
+})
+
+test('Throw error when non existent username is provided', async () => {
+  const username = 'thisusernamedoesntexist'
+  nock('https://api.github.com')
+    .get(`/users/${username}`)
+    .reply(404, {
+      message: 'Not Found',
+      documentation_url:
+        'https://developer.github.com/v3/users/#get-a-single-user',
+    })
+  try {
+    await getUserInfo(username)
+  } catch (error) {
+    expect(error.message).toEqual(
+      `Login not found when adding a contributor for username - ${username}.`,
+    )
+  }
+})
+
 test('handle github errors', async () => {
   nock('https://api.github.com')
     .get('/users/nodisplayname')
diff --git a/src/repo/github.js b/src/repo/github.js
index dd59b49..b306965 100644
--- a/src/repo/github.js
+++ b/src/repo/github.js
@@ -60,6 +60,12 @@ const getUserInfo = function(username, hostname, optionalPrivateToken) {
     hostname = 'https://github.com'
   }
 
+  if (!username) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `No login when adding a contributor. Please specify a username.`,
+    )
+  }
+
   const root = hostname.replace(/:\/\//, '://api.')
   return request
     .get({
@@ -68,11 +74,14 @@ const getUserInfo = function(username, hostname, optionalPrivateToken) {
     })
     .then(res => {
       const body = JSON.parse(res.body)
+
       let profile = body.blog || body.html_url
 
       // Github throwing specific errors as 200...
       if (!profile && body.message) {
-        throw new Error(body.message)
+        throw new Error(
+          `Login not found when adding a contributor for username - ${username}.`,
+        )
       }
 
       profile = profile.startsWith('http') ? profile : `http://${profile}`