The capital must be invested or actively in the process of being invested at filing, and the jobs must be created within the period the rules allow after the investment, generally by the time conditions are removed. Hire to the plan, and keep payroll records from the first employee.
Invest first, hire to the schedule, prove it at the second stage
Hypothetical example: the owner wants to file the petition before spending anything, then build and hire later. The petition requires the capital to be invested or actively in the process of being invested, so the U.S. enterprise must be formed, the premises secured and the funds transferred and committed before filing; a business plan then shows the hiring schedule.
The jobs themselves need not all exist at filing, but they must be created within the permitted period and be shown at the removal-of-conditions stage with payroll records and tax filings. After filing, visa availability in the bulletin and USCIS processing determine when conditional residence begins; the owner may need a nonimmigrant status to run the plant in the meantime. Set milestones: formation and lease, transfer of funds, filing, first hires, production start, and a payroll review each quarter so the ten-job count is documented as it happens rather than reconstructed later.
The I-829 filing window is the ninety days before the second anniversary of conditional residence.