Not necessarily. A prelaunch or early-stage enterprise can qualify where commitments are credible and capital is genuinely at risk; first sales are not a universal precondition. A completed renewal cohort is useful evidence about retention, but waiting a full year has its own cost. Weigh evidentiary strength against the delay.
Plan around milestones you control
Set dates for the funds trail, signed vendor and hosting commitments, the business plan, and counsel's review — those you can schedule. Processing and appointment times you cannot; no one can promise them. Keep visa validity distinct from the period of stay recorded on admission, because their end dates may differ. Avoid resignations, moves or launch announcements that assume a decision by a chosen week.
Set milestones — contracts closed out, new lease signed, funds transferred, projections revised — instead of a single promised filing date. Work backwards from what the file must show: funds traced, capital committed, premises and equipment arranged, a business ready to operate or credibly about to. Ask the seller for an extension before expiry if more time is genuinely needed, record any amendment in signed form, and plan for refusal as well as approval.
Waiting for a permit transfer before committing anything leaves the file with nothing to examine.