(Press) Rodrigo de Paul enters the energy drink business: the first edition is already sold out.

The striker for the national team took part in developing Shhh! a sports drink sweetened with honey. This year they plan to sell more than three million cans.

Originally posted at iProfesional (Argentina) 23/06/2025

Text by Gabriela Einsinck

Following the trend of major sports stars launching their own brands, Argentine national team player Rodrigo de Paul has teamed up with two entrepreneurs under thirty to present Shhh!, an energy drink sweetened with honey.

The drink was developed by Marcos Guevara Lynch, founder of the crypto startup Lemon Cash, and Santiago Parodi, a member of the family owned food and beverage company Parodi Group Food and Health. They brought the idea to the national team forward at the end of last year.

De Paul tried the drink and decided to join the project. After a social media marketing campaign, an initial edition of six thousand cans was launched and sold online.

The initial investment in the project was around twenty thousand dollars which Parodi and Guevara Lynch used to create the formula combining honey, royal jelly, caffeine, ginseng and B group vitamins with no preservatives or additives.

The goal for this year is to reach a production of more than three million cans with a unit price of about two dollars and to add sales channels such as kiosks and supermarkets according to the founders. To achieve this they launched an investment round of five hundred thousand dollars to finance large scale production.

“Energy drinks are key for any athlete but there were no healthy options. That is why we created Shhh! for everyday people” said De Paul.

“We developed the formula together with scientists and food experts. The first production run was made in Italy but we are working to bring the entire process to Argentina” said Parodi. “Honey is a key ingredient. We work with a network of suppliers and are finalizing long term agreements to guarantee quality volume and sustainability” added Guevara Lynch.

The drink also has scientific backing according to its creators. A study by the University of Extremadura in Spain confirmed the benefits of Shhh! compared to conventional drinks showing lower spikes in insulin and glucose levels after consumption.

Currently the company produces about two hundred fifty thousand cans of two hundred fifty milliliters each month. “The energy drink market grows at four percent annually and our goal is to gain one percent of the local market in the first year and within three years become one of the top three players” Guevara Lynch explained.

“Distribution is the key. We want to take care of each point of sale and generate demand both locally and internationally” he said. In the medium term the partners are targeting Latin American markets such as Brazil and Mexico.

“We want to shake up the energy drink industry and build a community based on good energy. That is why our slogan is It depends on you” said Guevara Lynch.

Guevara Lynch and Parodi met as kids at San Martin de Tours School. Both come from families with companies and after studying business administration and global business management they decided to launch their own venture.

At the end of last year they managed to meet with the player’s manager and took the opportunity to send him several cans.

De Paul tried the drink and decided to join the project through a campaign on his social media following in the footsteps of Lionel Messi who last year launched his own hydration drink Más plus by Messi.

The brand aims to build a community with good energy understanding that everyone at some point needs that extra push to keep going explained Fernando Oltolina and Juan Martín Muiño from TBS the marketing agency behind Shhh!. The launch campaign reflected the creativity that the new drink inspires. Just as De Paul is known as Messi’s bodyguard on the pitch outside the pitch his protector is former boxer Yassine Cheuko.

To play with this idea De Paul posted about Yassine on his social media recommending the drink and sent him cans of the new product to try. This was the starting point to tell all his followers that they too could now enjoy the new energy drink.

The brand’s aim is to build a community with good energy. The slogan for Shhh! is It depends on you a motivational phrase to leave excuses behind and remind everyone of their own power to achieve their goals.

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