(FORTUNE Magazine) – So you've been saying for ages that no one in your industry really understands technology. What you ought to do, you keep repeating, is start a company with a high-tech edge and make a killing. Or maybe you're sick to death of the corporate grind, all the petty politics and myopic thinking. Surely running your own shop would be a better way to go.

If it's money rather than courage you lack, maybe it's time to take the plunge. In the long history of ideas and money, this is a historic moment: There's so much money chasing after the next good idea that, at least for now, entrepreneurs with a decent product and some market savvy hold the upper hand--particularly if they have a new high-tech angle. Says Jon Bayless of the Dallas venture capital firm Sevin Rosen: "For people who can sort through all the change going on in technology and decipher an opportunity, this is probably the greatest time to be alive."

It's no mystery why more cash is becoming available. In 1996 the venture capital industry produced a 40% return, or about twice that of the S&P 500. That sort of performance helped the funds raise $16.5 billion over 1996 and 1997. Now they need to find enough fledgling operations to absorb all that money.

There's an even bigger reason entrepreneurs are finding financing easier. Explains Mark Urdahl, former manager of strategic investments for IBM: "It used to be that the only path for funding was through venture capital firms, and there were few of them. But today there are more VCs, and there are other people who understand technology and are willing to invest in it." Those other investors, who have been providing even more dollars to startup companies than the VCs do, include private, individual "angel" investors, state and local organizations trying to spur their economies, and large corporations.

The angels, usually wealthy professionals and retired entrepreneurs, contribute about $20 billion a year to startup companies. The best way to find these folks is through angel networks like those run out of MIT and the Small Business Administration. The networks use databases to match companies and investors with similar goals, or stage events where several entrepreneurs can present ideas to potential backers.

Several organizations set up by states and cities have come to believe small business is the key to local economic growth. Robert Heard, president of the National Association of State Venture Funds in Oklahoma City, estimates that his 60 members have $1 billion to $2 billion at any given time to invest or lend. Sometimes these organizations help support so-called small-business incubators at local universities. These institutions often provide such amenities as inexpensive office space, receptionists, and copy machines. They also tend to become known regionally as places where promising startups can be found.

Big corporations often invest in firms with likely products or technology. Corporate largesse can range from outright equity investments in a startup to assistance in meeting specific needs, such as providing R&D space or the money to file a patent.

Urdahl's company, Applied Science Fiction, demonstrates how entrepreneurs can benefit from all these new opportunities. While at IBM, Science Fiction's founders developed a method for scanners to remove fingerprints or scratches from a film negative while it's being scanned into a computer. Big Blue had no use for the technology, so the team raised seed money from friends and family, licensed its creation from IBM, and went out on its own. When cash ran low, the team got a second round of equity from a larger company. A year and half later, Urdahl and his team were seeking funds from private investors when they by chance met a trio of local VCs at the University of Texas incubator, where they had office space. Urdahl and his crew had failed to find a venture deal earlier and weren't sure they wanted one now, but the VCs made a good case for themselves: They understood the technology well, and in addition to equity they could provide the strategic advice and connections that Science Fiction would need to recruit from and sell to larger companies. The two sides struck a deal and in the process provided the clearest possible sign of these singular times: venture capitalists pitching themselves to companies rather than vice versa.