Yes, lower the needle by raising the clip. Stock position is in the middle #3 slot, put them in the #2 slot. It shouldn't have a major effect on starting but will let the bike run cleaner through the midrange. The larger jets on top and at the bottom are going to richen the midrange as well so you need to compensate for that by leaning the needle setting.
For hard starting, I would check timing, choke jets, float level, valves, in that order. Set mix screws to 1.5 turns out to start with, then fine tune from there once it's running.
For hard starting, I would check timing, choke jets, float level, valves, in that order. Set mix screws to 1.5 turns out to start with, then fine tune from there once it's running.