The signed lease and occupancy evidence, incorporation and ownership documents, financial statements or funding commitments, the staffing plan with dates, any executed customer or supplier agreements, and payroll records once hiring starts. Photographs of the fitted premises are commonly included.
Keep the evidence current from day one
Assemble the set as the operation stands up rather than reconstructing it near a deadline. Each hire, contract and payment adds to the record, and the ones missed are usually the earliest. Note who is responsible for filing them.
Advisers can organize the collection and flag where the plan and the evidence have drifted apart; whether the record supports an extension is a legal judgment for counsel. Add one habit that costs almost nothing and is difficult to replicate later: record the reason whenever reality departs from the plan. A hire deferred, a lease taken on different terms, a customer segment postponed, a piece of equipment not bought — each has a business reason that is obvious in the week it happens and completely unavailable eighteen months later.
A dated note explaining why is worth more at the review than a revised plan presented as though it had always said that. Hypothetical example: a third-party logistics operator defers two planned hires because a customer contract slipped, and the file contains a one-paragraph note written that week, referencing the customer's own notification, which turns a shortfall against the plan into a documented business decision rather than an unexplained gap.