Series A isn't "early" these days and 10k options reflects that. (100k is only 1% given 10M authorized, 10M being reasonably common for initial authorization and 1% being around market for an early engineer.)
That said, the strike price for common should still be reasonable at Series A - not $0.0001, but not $10 either, so 5-10k options can be around $10k. (Yes, a company can raise at $100M valuation even though the 10M common have a strike price of $1. The $100M is preferred.)
And, there's no law saying that 803(b) is all or nothing.
Yes, you have to come up with the cash to buy the stock at 83(b) time, but if it's early, that's pocket change.