What It Actually Looks Like to Receive Investment: A Conversation about SweetBio and InvestTN

Written by Bailey Hughes
Photos by SweetBio

Eleven years ago, Kayla Rodriguez Graff and her brother Isaac Rodriguez had a lab result, a big question, and no roadmap for what came next.

Today, SweetBio's Mānuka honey and collagen-based wound care products are FDA-cleared, Medicare-covered, clinically proven, and being used in Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense facilities across the country. The company hit a million dollars in sales in its first year of commercialization, has published peer-reviewed clinical research, and is growing fast. And they did it as a brother-sister team from Tennessee, without coastal connections or a traditional venture capital background.

Kayla is the co-founder and CEO of SweetBio and an InvestTN portfolio founder, and I sat down with her to talk about what that actually meant for her company, and what she'd say to a Tennessee founder who's still sitting on the fence.

The Beginning

Kayla's background before SweetBio wasn't in startups. It was in understanding how a big company works–what makes people love it, what makes investors trust it, what makes employees want to build it. She spent her early career at Target Corporate with one quiet goal: to one day build something of her own.

Kayla is quick to credit her brother with the original idea.

"Isaac is a biomedical PhD, and we talked and said, 'might as well start something that's gonna fail anyway.' He had this idea of incorporating honey with collagen, and it was performing really well in the lab. And so he asked me, 'hey, scientifically, this makes a lot of sense, but does this make any business sense? Like, can we build a company off of this?'" Kayla said.

She didn't say yes right away. She asked the right questions first: is this a real problem, will people pay for a solution, can they protect it, can they build something defensible around it. A few months later, they had enough answers to take the first step. They applied to accelerators, got into Y Combinator, and chose Memphis instead.

What Raising Money Actually Taught Her

SweetBio has raised capital across multiple stages, from early product development all the way through FDA clearance and commercialization. Kayla has led every round. And the biggest lesson wasn't about valuations or term sheets. It was about how to think about investors in the first place.

"Seeking investment is very much like a sales funnel, and I don't think I fully appreciated that. You need to know what value looks like. You need to know where to meet them, what their hot buttons are, where not to meet them, what words to say to resonate with them, and ultimately what the value exchange is. That's a sales process," Kayla said.

The investor is your customer. And like any customer, you have to know them – what moves them, what excites them, and how to guide them from never having heard of you to believing in you enough to write a check.

What Happened After InvestTN Said Yes

People hear "investment" and imagine an overnight transformation. The reality, Kayla says, is quieter and more meaningful.

"Having that credible investor to get us to proof points faster unlocks capital, but for us, it unlocked profitability," Kayla said.

Profitability gave SweetBio something that's hard to put a dollar amount on: the ability to choose. 

"That being profitable allows us to be able to say yes and no to the opportunities that make the most sense for us, not out of necessity, but out of opportunity," Kayla said.

She's also clear that the capital didn't do the work; the preparation did. By the time InvestTN invested, SweetBio already knew exactly how they'd use every dollar.

"Capital should be deployed when you know exactly how to use it. By the time you get to receiving capital, you should be able to immediately deploy it," Kayla said.

Building in the Middle of the Country

Kayla doesn't sugarcoat what it's like to build a company in Tennessee. Most venture capital is on the coasts. The safety nets are thinner. The resources are harder to find.

"The founders that are in the state of Tennessee are operating out of scarcity. We're more robust, and we do more with a dollar than most," Kayla said.

But that scarcity mindset, she argues, is also the thing holding Tennessee founders back, and it's exactly what programs like InvestTN are designed to interrupt.

“Always thinking in survival mode is just damaging to what the innovation can be," Kayla said. "That shift, from 'how am I gonna make payroll tomorrow?' to 'what could the opportunity be?' is such a critical use of capital like LaunchTN."

SweetBio spent years in that in-between space, clearing federal hurdles, waiting for the right market moment, building the foundation before the growth. Kayla wouldn't change it. But she would tell other founders not to wait to ask for help.

What To Do If You’re on the Fence

"Do it, honestly, just do it. If you're solving a real problem that a lot of people feel that they're willing to pay a solution for and you can do it better than what's out there, it is worth outreaching," Kayla said.

Kayla's story is proof that InvestTN works – not as a shortcut, but as a catalyst. A credible investor who believed in SweetBio helped them reach milestones faster, unlock profitability, and build a company that could compete on a national stage from right here in Tennessee. That's what the program is designed to do.

But it starts before you ever submit an application. It starts with honest research. Is venture capital actually the right fit for your business, or would a loan or grant serve you better? Do you understand what giving up equity really means? Have you talked to anyone who's been through it?

The free resources, connections, and networks already exist around you, and they're there specifically for this. Entrepreneur centers like theCO can help you work through those questions, connect you with the right people, and walk alongside you through the process. You don't have to have everything figured out before you start asking.

Start at investtn. org and read through the process. Then come find us. Schedule a Founder Fit Check, and let this be the nudge you needed to take the next step.

"Having the freedom to dream is something that I feel like Launch Tennessee can play a really critical role in," Kayla said. "Close your eyes. Five years from now, you've been successful. What does that look like? What does it feel like? Okay, so let's back into how we got there."

And for Kayla, that's exactly where she is now.

"I love my job. I absolutely love my job. It took a long time to get here, but we knew that it was worth the battle, and so to see it all play out now. This is the fun part."