Assess the actual qualifying contribution, not the headline transaction value. Retained equity, debt discharged and future payments may describe different rights from cash available for the proposed investment.
Reconcile the sale with the amount being invested
The current general amount is US$1.05 million or US$800,000 for a qualifying reduced-threshold case. A large sale price alone does not establish lawful personal funds, capital at risk or the required ten qualifying full-time jobs.
Your capital must be genuinely at risk in the new enterprise, and you must engage through day-to-day management or policy formulation; specified limited partner rights can satisfy that, while a purely passive financial stake does not. At least ten qualifying full-time jobs must be attributable to the investor, and the permitted counting methods differ between a standalone direct investment and a regional center project. Apply the permitted methodology to the actual positions and workers rather than divide all paid hours into convenient blocks and call each block a qualifying job. Where a promoter offers the reduced amount, the underlying determination is worth reading, because if the designation fails the shortfall is the investor’s problem and not the promoter’s.