That's probably true for a lot of startups. If you have problems scaling your $language services right now, then you need somebody who can scale $language services.
OTOH, I recently had an interview at a company who have quite a bit of groth and scaling problems right now (but probably not Silicon Valley level), and they still said: "We constantly have to learn new things, so the most important thing a candidate has to have is they have to enjoy learning new things".
AND: there are quite a lot of companies who are in the stable / profitable / predictable growth category and could afford to train/develop their people - But don't.
OTOH, I recently had an interview at a company who have quite a bit of groth and scaling problems right now (but probably not Silicon Valley level), and they still said: "We constantly have to learn new things, so the most important thing a candidate has to have is they have to enjoy learning new things".
AND: there are quite a lot of companies who are in the stable / profitable / predictable growth category and could afford to train/develop their people - But don't.