Well pretty much every other country in the world does not have US style at-will employment. All it generally means is there is a notice period for employees, on both sides, and you need more justification to fire someone, like their role is no longer needed due to client leaving. For example in the UK notice is usually one month, and it is not hard to fire people, but there are procedures you need to follow. It is entirely workable for startups.

You should not be in a position where a cashflow issue means you cant meet payroll or you will fail anyway.