Our Story

My name is Shawn and I am a Type I diabetic.

Whenever I eat carbs or my blood sugars are high, I need to inject insulin. Many days I feel like I am eating constantly, which means injecting insulin constantly as well. For 3 years it wasn’t a problem. But when I started to notice pain and bruising in my abdomen and thighs from not rotating injection sites, a condition called lipohypertrophy, I knew something needed to change.
My doctor always told me to rotate injection sites to avoid these problems, but being my stubborn self I didn’t because my arms, back, and butt were much more difficult to reach than my abdomen and thighs. Realizing this pain and bruising was now part of my new reality, I wanted to do something about it. I wasn’t willing to accept lipohypertrophy, so I built a simple guide with a recessed needle in my parent’s garage that would stabilize the insulin pen for easy one-handed use. Steady Shot was born. After 3D printing a few prototypes for use with my insulin pen, I was finally able to rotate to sites which I previously couldn’t reach and provide relief to my over injected areas. For the first time, I could use my left hand to inject and reach the far left side of my body. I could comfortably inject in my arms, lower back, and butt. After rotating for some time, my bruising started to fade and injections in my abdomen slowly got less painful. Now, I don’t have bruising or pain at all.
Such a simple little device has drastically changed my life so I created this company to get it in the hands of other injectors. 7.3 million Americans inject insulin and 38% have lipohypertrophy. With Steady Shot, it doesn’t have to be this way for the 2.8 million people suffering. While in college, I worked hard with a startup generator at UW-Madison, called Discovery to Product, that funded the commercialization of Steady Shot. After a long journey, Steady Shot is ready for order. I’m excited to hear injectors feedback after giving Steady Shot a try. I know Steady Shot will improve others' lives just like it has mine!

Sincerely,
Shawn Michels