Brian T. Doyle ’07, Connor F. Mitchell ’07 and Matthew T. Mitchell ’94

Founders, beteSTRONG
March 2017

In 2015, entrepreneurs, inventors and Loyola classmates Brian T. Doyle ’07 and Connor F. Mitchell ’07, along with older brother Matthew T. Mitchell ’94, started developing beteSTRONG Cases, a company that uses technology to provide waterproof insulin pump cases to individuals with Type 1 Diabetes. With its revolutionary cases, beteSTRONG transforms the way Type 1 diabetics protect their insulin pumps and enables them to live “life unrestricted.”

“It was the second semester of my junior year at Loyola when I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes,” recalls Doyle. “From the beginning, Connor Mitchell wanted to know everything and was always looking for ways to help.”

“I think I was more panicked than Brian was about his diabetes!” Connor jokes. His grandfather Daniel Mitchell ’29, who swam for Loyola Academy in the 1920s, was also a diabetic. “I remember always pestering Brian about his numbers and taking his insulin.”

For Doyle and Connor, who have been friends since they attended kindergarten together at Saints Faith, Hope and Charity School in Winnetka, a summer trip to the lake house of friend Timothy J. Heller ’07 began a new chapter in their friendship—it was the start of their business partnership.

“We were all sitting on the dock, when I noticed Brian disconnecting from his insulin pump every time he entered the water,” remembers Mitchell. “To my disbelief, he informed me that his insulin pump was not waterproof.”

Doyle and Connor, along with big brother Matt Mitchell, saw this limitation and began developing the concept for a protective case that could offer an effective solution. In the years since, beteSTRONG has become a meaningful side-project for Connor, a field sales engineer at Industrial Representatives, Inc (IRI), a third generation sales and high-tech engineering consulting firm started by his grandfather in 1962; Matthew, president of IRI and leader of business development for the beteSTRONG team; and Brian, who is in executive search at Spencer Stuart, a global leadership consultant

“We like to say that I was the inspiration,” explains Doyle, “Connor had the idea and with Matt—all three of us came together to make beteSTRONG a reality.”

At the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) TypeOneNation Summit and PEAK event in Boston in February, the team officially launched beteSTRONG to what Matthew calls “tremendous feedback and validation” from the diabetes community. “We are very excited about the positive impact we believe our product will have for a lot of T1D families,” he says.

“Our motto is life unrestricted,” adds Connor. “We truly believe that beteSTRONG is helping individuals live a life without obstacles, without their pumps restricting their activities.”

Both Mitchell and Doyle are members of the Young Leadership Committee for the Chicago-based Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) with which they have partnered to give back to the diabetes community. For every case sold, beteSTRONG will donate $5.00 to JDRF.

“What most people don’t realize is that this case is much more than just something to protect an insulin pump,” says Doyle. “The beteSTRONG case enables diabetics to be active and get the exercise that is so critical to living a healthy lifestyle. I am a part of beteSTRONG so that I can help others with diabetes live the life they want, not the life their pump allows them to live.”

The cases are manufactured locally in Addison, Illinois, and currently have a lead time of four weeks. Notably, beteSTRONG was featured on NBC’s Weekend Web with Art Norman and Charlie Wojciechowski. The clip can be viewed here.

Up next, the beteSTRONG team will take their cases to the West Coast at the end of March for the JDRF Summit in Los Angeles, California.

To learn more about beteSTRONG, visit betestrong.com/ or follow @betestrong.

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