Every business has to watch the cash carefully, but in a startup it's a mantra. Managing expenses to get the most out of every dollar is a fundamental entrepreneurial skill. Raising money is time-consuming and takes attention away from product, people, and market development. Having to raise money also can 'dilute' the existing shareholders (bringing in new investors means that existing investors - and employee owners - each have a smaller piece of the company). Expect that if you are working at a startup you'll be rewarded for finding the most inexpensive solutions to any problem.
A corollary to the money problem is that you can expect to be compensated both with cash and stock. Here's a link to an interesting calculator to see what others are being paid at startups.
