Executed client contracts, invoices and payments, a lease or documented premises, state registrations, insurance, and evidence of expenditure that cannot be recovered.
Commercial activity, documented from before the application
The classification excludes speculative or idle investment, so the file has to show a trading business. The strongest items are commercial documents created for business reasons: signed statements of work with named clients, invoices issued and payments received, subcontractor or employment agreements, a commercial lease or a documented coworking arrangement with payment history, business liability and professional indemnity insurance, state and local registrations, and evidence of software, infrastructure and equipment actually purchased. Add a schedule of irrevocable expenditure tying each line to an invoice and a bank entry.
What does not help is a business plan unsupported by transactions, or a company bank balance described as invested capital while it remains available to be withdrawn. Where the consultancy has been trading, its own history is better evidence than any projection.