I would absolutely not in a million years ever consider buying equipment at the start of a money management game before I have earned any money. But who knows, maybe I unknowingly play most games on hard mode, and that just isn't viable in this game.
Although now I'm thinking perhaps it actually isn't a money management game, but just an RPG, and you just start out a small amount money, like you do in money management games...?
I wouldn't consider Strive a money management game, simply because that is the weakest part of the game. For the beginning, maybe the first hour or two, money is critical and lacking; the player starts with a slave with no stats to make money from jobs and combat is by far the best way of getting money and stats. After you reach mid-game, maybe after 4 to 6 hours, money becomes easier to get from both combat and jobs with it becoming entirely trivial after you catch or buy multiple slaves.
It probably does better as an RPG, but honestly the difficulty follows a similar difficulty curve as the money management. So that works as long as you aren't expecting a challenge outside of early game.
