Based on the description of the rule in the article, the emphasis is on fundraising rather than producing jobs or value. The thresholds of $250k and $100k remind me of Dr. Evil's $1 million. It's just not enough of a bar to separate friends and family funds from legitimate business rationales.

Edit: In response to comments, currently $100k and $250k are not uncommon amounts for a person to incur attending university in the US. Solo operational costs in The Bay can swallow much of either in a year without hiring anyone or building anything...but in fairness either is a lot of money for most people if its yours and not very much if it is someone else's.