Just think about what you are expecting us to believe.
That someone would actually invest 1/2 million dollars and not know what the studio is going to be equipped with.
I would like to meet the fool who would lay out that kind of money without a solid business plan for when the label will break even and make a profit, what the studio is going to look like, the background of the engineer and the work he has done.
Now you say there are only perspective engineers. The whole venture is going to be dependent on that engineer and his background, plus the ability of the front office to pull in persepctive clients.
Venture capitalists always want return on their dollars and the worst return they would be looking for would be a measley 10 percent, so that means you have to make 50K a year in profit. With only about 2000 booking hours a year available if the place was booked solid the studio has to make about 100-200/hr.
It takes a pretty good reputation to make 100/hr or better, so you can see why this is a pretty big fish to swallow.
The last time I saw Al
Schmidt or Bob Katz over here asking us our opinion on equipment was...... well...... never.