Was trying to do a set of mods with AAI Industry, quickstart, and this mod (AAI industry requires power for offshore pump) but noticed quickstart seems to remove the starting hand crank. Is this something that can be addressed in this mod?

I'm assuming you mean this mod? https://mods.factorio.com/mods/Pasukaru/quick-start

I checked his code and he unconditionally deletes all items in the quickbar.

I have fixed a bug in my mod for the previously not working option "Prefer generator in quickbar on startup.".
Just go to MainMenu -> Options -> Mods -> Startup -> Hand Crank Generator and make sure the option is OFF. (defaults to off in latest version but you might still have old settings saved).
You will then start with the Hand Crank Generator in your main inventory.

If you already progressed in your map you can just enable the easy or hard crafting recipe in the settings too. Have fun ;)

Yep, that's the mod. Tried your mod with the latest patch and everything is working nicely now. Thank you very much for your help.