Trying to Understand UK Startup Funding Options Before We Raise

I have been trying to get a clearer picture of UK startup funding before we start raising, and honestly there is a lot of conflicting advice out there. Wanted to share what I have pieced together so far and see if others can correct me or add to it, rather than just repeating generic lists without any real context.

From what I understand, there are a handful of main routes founders tend to go down. Bootstrapping is usually the starting point, self funding the business in the early stages before bringing in any outside money at all. Grants and government schemes come up a lot too, things like Innovate UK grants, though these tend to be competitive and often slow to process, so they are not something you can rely on for urgent runway. Angel investment is another common route, usually structured through schemes like SEIS or EIS, which give tax relief to investors and make early stage UK startups noticeably more attractive to back compared to unstructured investment.

Venture capital tends to come into play once a startup has some traction and is looking to scale quickly, though this usually means giving up more equity and accepting more oversight and control from investors. Crowdfunding is another option, raising smaller amounts from a large number of backers, often used alongside other funding rather than as the sole source. Bank loans or startup loans are also worth mentioning, including government backed startup loan schemes specifically designed for very early stage businesses that do not yet qualify for other types of funding.

What I am still trying to understand is how founders actually decide which route to go first, and how much runway you should realistically have before even approaching investors seriously. I am also curious how SEIS and EIS actually affect the pitch itself, since I keep hearing it matters a lot to angel investors when they are deciding whether to back a company.

Has anyone here actually raised UK startup funding recently? Curious what route you went with, how long the process actually took from start to finish, and anything you wish you had known before starting.

I actually read something similar on Entrepreneur Plus Magazine a while back, they had a decent breakdown of UK startup funding from a founder's point of view.