Why hire without industry experience

A manager that is looking for a new team member faces a stressful situation: The sooner does his firm need to fill a position, the more pressure lies on his shoulders. As a result, he is less likely to find the person that the firm actually needs. When the HR are desperate for someone to occupy a role, that role is prone to be filled with somebody who may have a shining resume and a laundry list of helpful accomplishments, and yet lack the right personality that would match the employing company's profile. What ends up happening after signing of the contract and a period of successful, promising work is a clash between the identities of the company and the new employee.
The new business development manager presses for a lower-cost source of coffee beans in a cafe that prizes its own fair trade values. The new marketing officer gets fed up with daily mandatory dessert tastings while working for a trendy bakery in the middle of a busy city.
Both the cafe and the bakery are the companies that they are because of their staff's original quirks that the companies do not have to accommodate to survive. The new employees don't fit in - and that doesn't mean they are bad workers. Their values just don't correspond with your firm's.
That is where hiring on a rolling basis would be handy. Looking out for the right people for a venture when it doesn't have a particular role to fill takes pressure off the hiring process and therefore allows the firm to find the people that would make it what it aims to be.
With that said, the new employees do not have to have specific skills - since there aren't certain positions they would fulfill. Instead, they would create their own roles within the company by bringing their own quirks and passions to the table. Any technical skills can then be acquired already on the job (this should be especially easy considering that the new guy loves working at the firm. Those who don't love it shouldn't be hired.)
Industry experience might even become an obstacle in this situation. Having worked at another place that offers similar products as yours, the person's output will be impacted by the rival's values. A conflict of corporate differences would then not help any business that seeks to have its individual voice. And any firm, at that, should aim to do just that.