Pulling the inner valve spring at cam break in?

I think it depends how much spring pressure you are running. Maybe on a mild cam you might be able to get away without pulling the inner springs as long as you know the lifters are rotating before you start it up. No one used to do this kind of stuff but the whole zinc in the oil thing has made it kind of necessary.

I'd pull the inner springs though, why risk flattening a cam on a brand new engine? it's not a huge deal, just labor intensive. Get a decent on-head spring compressor like the one from Comp.

Just don't drop the valve into the cylinder while changing the springs. There is an adapter tool to put into the spark plug hole which feeds compressed air into the cylinder to hold the valve up. Or, you can feed some nylon rope into the hole.