How to Get Funding in 2024: 10 Tips for Entrepreneurs and Technology Startups

You’re building a startup technology business — and you need funding in 2024.

Admittedly, the early stage funding scene has changed quite a bit since the go-go years (2011 to 2021) — when cloud expansion, ubiquitous mobility, low interest rates, and a decade of so-called “free money” fueled a venture capital valuation bubble.

By 2023, heightened interest rates and multiple market corrections — stretching across crypto, cyber and other areas — pressured the VC scene quite a bit. Among the anecdotal proof points to note: Global venture funding was $19.2 billion in November 2023, down 16% from November 2022 — which was already down by two-thirds from November 2021, according to Crunchbase.

Fast forward to 2024. The business headlines and financial press suggest venture capital and angel investment dollars will be harder to find. But if take a closer look and set your expectations to reflect modern valuation levels, you’ll find plenty of early stage investors remain active in the market.

How should you proceed? If you need to raise funding in 2024, here are 10 ways to work with incubators, accelerators, angel investors and venture capitalists — some of whom are pictured and mentioned below.

Top Row: Arnie Bellini & Kevin Blake. Second Row: David Bellini, Jo Ann Corkran & Chris Day.
Third Row: Loretta McCarthy & Joe Panettieri. Fourth Row: Mark Scott, Adam Slutskin & Gerwai Todd.

1. Understand Current Valuations: During the frothy times, valuations for publicly held SaaS companies reached 19.4 times annual revenues in 2021, according to Capital IQ (as recapped by Aventis Advisors). Shift your attention to late 2023, and valuations for public market SaaS companies fell to 7.7 times annual revenues. Admittedly, faster-growing, early stage startups sometimes deserve higher valuation multiples than their more mature, slower-growing publicly held SaaS businesses. Your Homework: Study VC valuations for pre-seed, early stage, late-stage and venture growth valuations, then align your valuation expectations accordingly.

2. Don’t Fear A Down-Round: Nearly 20% of funding rounds were down rounds in Q3 of 2023, according to Carta. That basically means the latest funding round (say, a $30 million valuation in November 2023) was less than a previous funding round valuation (say, $80 million in November 2021). Your Homework: Accepting a down round can be humbling for entrepreneurs. But put your emotions aside. Look at your business’s financial performance on a spreadsheet. Compare your startup’s performance vs. current VC valuations for startups. Negotiate the best deal possible, but remain humble in the process.

3. Understand Your Burn Rate and Runway: How much money should your startup business raise? The short answer involves enough funding to keep the business running for at least 18 months to 21 months, according to Brex. The quest for funding can turn into a full-time job — in addition to your full-time job building your business. To escape or at least pause the endless pursuit of funding, make sure you seek enough funding to give you that 18-month runway. Your Homework: Find every possible way to reduce your monthly burn rate — within reason. Don’t sacrifice product quality, product fixes and customer support in the process.

4. What VCs and Angels Want to See and Hear: Your pitch deck should cover…

  • The product or service you’re building, and why it’s unique.

  • Target customers — size, vertical market, typical buyer within the business, etc.

  • Total addressable market — don’t overplay this. TAMs can be meaningless. Great companies can grow in shrinking markets. And bad companies can shrink in growing markets.

  • Company stage (pre-revenue/pre-product; pre-revenue but product launched; generating revenue with product launched, etc.).

  • KPIs such as customer churn rate, monthly recurring revenue (MRR), revenue churn and more. Bonus: Here are additional startup KPIs from Andreessen Horowitz.

  • How much money you’re seeking to raise, how the money will be used and target close date for the funding round.

  • A list of previous funding rounds and associated investors/valuations.

5. Start Local: If you don’t have any relationships in the VC or angel investor sectors, start by seeking out local investors. Your Homework: Search the Angel Capital Association Member Directory for potential investors in your hometown. Side note: If you’re in Florida, explore a potential relationship with Florida Funders.

6. Get “Business Fit”: To sharpen your business plan and build the foundation of your company, it might be wise to join an incubator or an accelerator — which typically provide executive guidance, business and technology support, and limited funding in exchange for equity. (Side note: Some accelerators and incubators don't involve funding-for-equity).

In my case, I am:

Your Homework: Search your local colleges, universities and businesses for local incubators and accelerators.

7. Embrace Investors Who Know Your Market: If you’re building an MSP-focused software company, for instance, multiple angel investors and venture capitalists (VCs) now focus on your target market. Potential options include:

Your Homework: Understand the investment thesis of each angel group and venture capital firm. How much do they typically invest, at what stage, how involved do they want to be in your business — and why?

8. Fish In New Ponds: I sometimes spend too much time hanging out with people who look, sound, act and think like me. To escape that bubble, I participated in Golden Seeds in 2014. Golden Seeds — managed by Jo Ann Corkran and Loretta McCarthy, Co-CEOs and Managing Partners — is one of the most active U.S.-based angel investment firms focused on women-led businesses. The engagement taught me to stretch beyond my usual networking spots to find new experts and new ways of thinking. Your Homework: As you seek funding, consider engaging with angels from different markets and sectors. In many cases, they can bring perspectives and experiences to your business that you will otherwise overlook.

9. Refine Your Pitch: After each meeting, ask investors for constructive criticism to help refine your pitch for your next round of engagements.

10. Follow-up and Establish a Cadence of Communication: Ping your target investors monthly. Even if they decline to invest, find out if they’d welcome monthly or quarterly business updates from you. Those updates can include a quick bullet list of business milestones — perhaps new product updates, customer wins, new hires, partnerships, etc. Those progress updates can open doors and open more wallets for the long haul.

Got feedback about the 10 tips above? Feel free to email me your thoughts. Send notes to Joe@ChannelAngels.com,

Accelerators, Seed Funding, Startups, Venture CapitalJoe PanettieriAngel Capital Association, Arnie Bellini, Bellini Capital, Kevin Blake, David Bellini, Chris Day, ERA, Entrepreneurs Accelerator Roundtable, Golden Seeds, Joe Panettieri, Pitch IT, ConnectWise, Mark Scott, Adam Slutskin, Tampa Bay Wave, Gerwai Todd, Top Down Ventures, Jo Ann Corkran, Loretta McCarthyComment