People assume recruiting isn't important, they focus on building a great product, etc. It is only once they get to the point a light seems to turn on that they will need to hire more people to execute the idea they're working on that they actually do anything about recruiting, and by then it is usually a bit too late. The last company I worked for had a recruiter for awhile, let them go and had someone who wasn't really qualified to be recruiting handling things. They hadn't really hired anyone in 8 months. When I came in they had this idea that we would be hiring people from day 1, but that's really not how it works. The process takes some time, so not addressing a need that takes time until the exact second you need it seems to be the biggest problem to me.
Oh and all those contract recruiters, fuck those guys.