Sometimes. Prelaunch readiness can matter, and credible commitments — a signed lease, an executed employment agreement, ordered equipment — can support a case before first sales. Requiring completed transactions in every situation is wrong; the right sequence depends on the business model and the funds already committed.
Sequence hiring against lease, licences and cash
Set milestones: premises secured, licences applied for, equipment ordered, manager's start date, opening. Hiring too early burns capital before revenue; hiring too late leaves nobody to open. Record the reasoning and the commitments already signed. No processing time or approval is guaranteed, so avoid an employment agreement whose start date assumes a decision by a particular week, and ask counsel to reconcile conflicting obligations.
Compare closing first with waiting for a defined regulatory milestone, including how each arrangement affects committed capital and commercial exposure. Funds placed in escrow with release conditioned only on visa issuance can be treated as committed, because the buyer cannot walk away with them, but the escrow terms must actually say that. The category expects money already committed and at risk, so a purchase conditional on a permit transferring puts the closing calendar in charge of the application calendar.
Ask who can perform the initial work lawfully and whether deliverables can be rescheduled by agreement.