An enterprise can be approaching actual operations rather than already generating revenue, but a speculative plan is insufficient. The investor must have invested or be actively investing, with real commitment and credible readiness.
Explain what remains before opening
Show which launch dependencies are complete and why the remaining steps do not leave the venture at the scouting stage. Contracts, equipment, permissions and delivery arrangements matter according to the business model. A lack of sales makes the evidence supporting future operations and non-marginality particularly important; it is not a reason to replace those facts with optimistic projections.
A practical way to test readiness is to ask what a customer would experience if one arrived tomorrow. Could the business take the order, fulfil it and invoice for it? Where the answer is no, identify precisely which link is missing and whether money or time closes it.
That framing tends to be more useful than counting completed tasks, because a venture can complete a great deal of preparation while remaining unable to trade. Keep in mind that the investment must be substantial in relation to the total cost of purchasing an established enterprise or establishing a new one, and that a lower-cost business generally calls for a proportionately higher commitment. Neither the passage of time nor the accumulation of receipts converts a plan into an operating business; what matters is whether the enterprise is genuinely in a position to function.