According to a survey involving about 700 startup founders, 23 percent of them voted for Elon Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, as their source of admiration, more than any other tech leader. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, came second with 10 percent of the respondents giving him the top spot. He was followed by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg with six percent, and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs (who passed away more than five years ago) at five percent.

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The survey, which is in its second year, also picked Musk as the most admired leader in 2015. Last year, Musk hit many huge milestones including the successful announcement of Telsa Model 3 and the rollout of the Mars colonization plan.

The survey, a part of a broader State of Startups, was conducted by First Round Capital, a New York-based VC firm whose portfolio includes stakes in Uber, TaskRabbit, and Blue Apron. 

The survey's other findings suggest that the present time is quite favorable for startups. About 90 percent of the founders interviewed agreed that it is a good time to start a company, 72 percent predict an increase in the number of acquisitions next year, and 43 percent expect an improvement of the IPO market. Also, only 57 percent of the founders interviewed believe the startup ecosystem is a bubble this year compared to 73 percent last year. Hiring is also expected to increase in 2017, according to Fortune.

The survey, conducted between August and September of 2016, does not include the effects of the US Presidential election results. At the time of the survey, Hillary Clinton was believed to have a very high chance of winning the presidency, but there are significant concerns that President-elect Donald Trump's stance on immigration and security could adversely impact the tech sector.