Oh hiring for Elixir is definitely a problem, but not a problem with the Elixir ecosystem. There are definitely startups with a management style/mentality that cannot handle what you need to do to hire successfully for Elixir in today's Elixir ecosystem. (To clarify: what it takes is "being a sensible human")
I would recommend Elixir for a startup.
I made a similar comment on a previous article about Elixir: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27194517