# Sun Sida: How a 29-Year-Old Built China’s Leading Corn Chip Brand
At just **29 years old**, Sun Sida stands out as an unusual case in entrepreneurship.
Born in 1996, he already boasts **a decade of entrepreneurial experience**, including six years building his brand **Shiyan Shi**, now the **top seller** in China’s corn chip category.
Despite his youth, Sun Sida radiates **clarity** and a deliberate, even awkward, steadiness.
When asked about his success formula, he replied: *“Seventy percent luck.”*
While most young founders aim to keep operations light, he’s intentionally **added “weight”** — his second factory is breaking ground, and he’s cultivating 150 acres of corn.
Let’s dive into the story behind his rise. After several hours of conversation, we distilled **seven powerful lessons**.
---
## 01 — Make Decisions Based on Your **Lower Limit**, Not Your Upper Limit
**It all began with a summer job handing out flyers.**
- **Pay**: 80 RMB/day base + 5 RMB per valid contact
- **Earnings**: 130–140 RMB/day (top seller on his team)
- **Cost of living**: 3 KFC meals/day = ~50 RMB ⇒ **1 day of work = 3 days of meals**
This gave him confidence: *“Worst case, I can hand out flyers and survive.”*
From there, he ventured into small businesses — agricultural aid, honey sales, and at age 19, a bike-sharing startup with smart locks, predating *ofo*.
The venture was crushed when capital flooded the bike-sharing industry.
But each experiment raised his **safety net** from “I can hand out flyers” to “I can get a decent job using my experience.”
**Key takeaway:** Many start businesses chasing **potential riches**, but Sun Sida first confirms **how bad failure could get**. That mental preparation keeps him stable.
---
## 02 — Your First Product Is for **Buying Insight**, Not Making Money
Childhood memory: Loved *Lang Wei Xian* snacks, but parents restricted them for being “junk food.”
**Idea:** Create healthy snacks.
First product: **Fish Crisp**
- **High cost**: 3 jin deep-sea tuna → 1 jin crisp; ~100 RMB per jin
- **Nutritious**: 60% protein, zero additives
- **Premium packaging**: custom fish-shaped box
**Outcome:** Discontinued.
- **Problem 1:** Price — 25g for 20+ RMB vs. chips at 6–7 RMB
- **Problem 2:** Confusion — people thought it was “fish-flavored chips”
**Lesson:**
Don’t try to **educate consumers**; adapt to existing perceptions.
Consumers called it “fish meat chips” — inspiring his next idea: another type of chips.
---
## 03 — Seek Opportunities in Giants’ **Invisible or Dismissed Spaces**
Chips market = **sea of blood**, with global giants owning >70% share.
Can’t compete on potatoes? Focus on what people **really want** — crispiness, savoury flavor — and change the base ingredient.
**Spark:** Corn — perceived as healthy whole grain.
Developed non-fried, zero trans-fat corn chips.
Some consumers began replacing regular chips with these while watching TV or traveling.
**Lesson:** Giants ignore emerging trends like “healthy snacks.” The gaps they dismiss can be fertile ground for new brands.
---
## 04 — Competitive Barriers Come from Things Others Find **Too Troublesome**
Rising orders → quality issues from contract manufacturers.
Problems:
- Inconsistent taste
- Refusal to lower salt or use natural seasoning
- Complexity of baking vs frying
Solution: **Build own factory.**
- 2024: First facility producing 5M packs/month
- Reserved land for “world’s best corn chip factory” expansion
- 2025: Partnered with Huazhong Agricultural University to grow purpose-bred corn
**Lesson:** True barriers are operational challenges others avoid — not trendy marketing tactics.
---
## 05 — Win with the **Extra 1% Beyond Consumer Expectations**
Example: Jasmine-flavored corn crisps with **Seven-Scent Jasmine** tea leaves.
Seven infusion cycles infuse fragrance directly into leaves, retained through low-temp processing.
Consumers may not know the process, but they **experience the delight** of a fragrance that exceeds expectations.
**Lesson:** The decisive wow factor is often the small detail that goes beyond the 99% of expected quality.
---
## 06 — Go On-Site to Discover Why Products **Aren’t Selling**
Offline launch of a “perfect” product → poor sales.
Reason: Packaging font with UV shine looked great on-screen but unreadable under supermarket lighting.
Solution:
- Sun Sida watched shoppers at shelves for days
- Interviewed buyers and non-buyers
- Made on-shelf tests with multiple packaging versions
**Lesson:** Physical retail has conditions invisible from the office. Proximity to customers drives product success.
---
## 07 — Shift Focus From **Winning Over People** to **Winning Over Things**
Past: Distributors took huge inventory as part of a relationship.
Now: Unsold stock can ruin brand value.
Case: Distributor order too large → slow sales → Sun Sida helped clear stock to protect brand.
Today:
- Channels care more about **consumer preference** than relationships
- Good products create **their own traffic** (Sam’s Club, Pang Dong Lai examples)
**Lesson:** True value now lies in creating products that win *on the shelf* and in the consumer’s hands, not just in the negotiation room.
---
## Final Takeaways
**How Sun Sida won in a trillion-yuan market:**
1. **Confirm the lower limit** — be safe even in failure.
2. **Buy lessons** with your first product.
3. **Flank the giants** by playing in overlooked spaces.
4. **Invest in the “troublesome” work** to build real barriers.
5. **Add the extra 1%** that surprises consumers.
6. **Watch customers in their environment**.
7. **Optimize for product truth**, not relationship politics.
No magic hacks — just choosing the harder, steadier path, mastering basics, and repeating them with focus.
---
**Related Note for Creators:**
Platforms like [AiToEarn官网](https://aitoearn.ai/) help digital entrepreneurs replicate these principles:
- Open-source global AI content monetization
- Multi-platform publishing (Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, X)
- Integrated analytics and model ranking
This combination of **quality work** plus smart **distribution** helps turn deliberate craft into sustainable impact.
---
**Inspiration:**
Success starts when you have confidence not to starve, choose not to settle, and lift your foot to **start climbing your own mountain**.
