Brewers spend all their time fretting about starters. Winemakers do not (and cider fermentation has more to do with winemaking). Just rehydrate (or smack for WYeast) and pitch.
The reason, I believe, is that pitching rates matter far more for beer because some sugars are marginally fermentable and attenuation means a lot to flavor. This is not the case for wine and cider. All sugars are fully fermentable and attenuation will be 100% unless you stop it.