Yes, startup times are a pain. As of this morning, Drake now works with Drip, which is a nifty tool to bring down start up times. It spins "backup" JVMs, so next time you run the command, JVM is ready. It works great for interactive environments where at least several seconds pass between runs, but won't do much if you need to run Drake several times per second from an automated script.
Another option is Nailgun, but it has its limitations, too.
None if this is ideal. If you want to write a very simple CLI program, keep this in mind. You may want to stay away from JVM.