Here are the books that startup founders highly recommend to other founders, according to this VC's survey

• Mike Raab is an investor at Sinai Ventures in San Francisco as well as a writer.
• Sinai's annual founder feedback survey asks participants the books they'd most highly recommend to other founders.
• The recommended books were focused on a variety of topics including happiness, creativity, and entrepreneurship - and ranged out to spirituality and psychedelics.
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In January 2019, I sent out a short survey to the founders of Sinai Ventures' portfolio companies in order to get their feedback on a variety of topics.

Capitalizing on the opportunity to poll a large number of founders, I included the question "What book(s) would you most highly recommend to other founders?" The intent with this question was to aggregate and share the recommendations in hopes that entrepreneurs would find value or inspiration from their peers' favorite books.

I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I had expected for founders' book suggestions to be focused squarely on entrepreneurship and building venture-scale businesses. While there were a few of these typical entrepreneurship books in the mix, there was a surprising amount of diversity in the recommendations, which ranged from art and creativity to happiness and meaning.

After considering the results, the diversity of recommendations and topics began to make sense.

After all, successful venture-backed founders are often thoughtful and well-rounded. Building a startup requires a diversity of skill sets, from fundraising to managing people and creating a product that customers love, as well as a stable mindset to weather the inevitable ups and downs of startup life. Reading about meaning, happiness, and creativity likely empowers these entrepreneurs to have a more holistic outlook on their venture and life in general.

Without further ado, here are 15 of the books that startup founders most highly recommend to other founders: