Read the general investor planning overview
A digital business may have fewer physical startup costs, but that does not create an automatic small-investment exemption. Document the real cost, proportionate commitment and operating capacity. Avoid inventing equipment purchases to reach a supposed minimum or relying on a founder’s unsupported valuation of an unfinished product. A low-cost model still needs a treaty-qualified investor, qualifying committed capital exposed to loss, and a genuine enterprise that is not marginal. The investor must be able to develop and direct it. A first review should reconcile the budget to payment evidence and identify the one commercial dependency that would stop operations. Hypothetical example: A paper-restoration studio has paid for conservation tools but depends on a leased climate-controlled room that has not been secured. The investor must decide whether the documented commitment supports the actual establishment cost or whether the missing premises changes the analysis.
Use the actual operating model
List the resources needed to deliver the service: technology, licences, customer acquisition, contractors and other relevant costs. Explain which resources are paid for or committed and which remain forecasts. A low-cost model should be supported honestly rather than padded with unrelated assets. State’s proportionality approach generally expects a higher proportionate commitment where the enterprise costs less. Build the budget from the first sale backwards: delivery resources, legal rights, facilities, sales channels, and working capital. Label each item paid, contractually committed, contingent, or merely estimated. That label is more useful than a round total because it reveals what the enterprise can actually do.
Separate product value from expenditure
A software concept, development invoice and transferable intellectual-property right are different evidence. Establish what the investor owns and contributes, and support any proposed intangible value under the applicable standards. Do not substitute an aspirational fundraising valuation for the capital actually invested. Retain contracts and ownership documents so counsel can distinguish real contributions from unsupported estimates. Keep the acquisition agreement, assignment document, payment trail, and valuation support together for any claimed intangible asset. The decision is whether a transferable right has truly been contributed and documented, not whether the founder can describe its future potential persuasively.
Show commercial capacity
Connect the budget to customers, delivery arrangements and credible revenue expectations. A website alone does not demonstrate a real, non-marginal enterprise. Explain how the investor will direct the operation and what evidence supports its economic potential. There is no universal dollar floor that resolves those questions, and a lean business still needs a complete eligibility assessment. Test the revenue forecast against capacity, pricing, customer evidence, and staffing needs. Where assumptions drive non-marginality, identify the record that supports each one and ask whether the enterprise could meet the plan if a proposed client starts later than expected.
What else is on your mind?
Is there one minimum investment that guarantees E-2 eligibility?Is holding money or owning an asset enough for E-2?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.