Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

In Zero to One , Peter Thiel refers to a law that his friends named after him that states, "A startup messed up at its foundation cannot be fixed." When looking at the company that you work for, what elements of the foundation have to be absolutely on point?  Leadership? Management structure? Communication architecture? Talent management and recruiting? Organizational health and maintenance? Operating model?  Some, or all of these?  As many startups that fail because their foundation was cracked to begin with, I think that there are many companies in existence today that are built like a game of Jenga .  You pull that one piece out and the whole tower comes crashing down.  Question is -- what is that one piece?  Leadership? Management structure? Communication architecture? Talent management and recruiting? Organizational health and maintenance? Operating model?  You get the idea... 

The Hard Things About Hard Things is the book I'm currently reading by Ben Horowitz , cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz. I'm also listening to Zero to One by Peter Thiel. It's safe to say that I'm getting my Silicon Valley technology startup fix taken care of at the moment. I'm always intrigued by those that think differently. By different, I mean in the "business acument genius off the chart" type of way. In both of these books, I've realized that you will never learn enough about how to start, run, and manage a business. To me, good advice is something that you don't want or need to hear, but you know deep down that it's right. Both of these books tell it like it is and there is some great substance in both of them. Check them out if you have the time.