"I'm really sorry! Something came up and I was delayed." Meeting Chen Hengjie on a Friday afternoon, he repeatedly apologized for being late, but I was already eager to hear his entrepreneurial story over the past few years. In 2014, he resigned from his position as general manager of a book company to start his own business. At the toughest time, his account had only 1,000 yuan left. Now, he sells small black sesame pills worth over 100 million yuan annually and has created a brand-new category. He says he is currently facing his biggest challenges, but he is not anxious; instead, he feels very grounded. I asked him, "If this were the last moment of your life, what is the one sentence you would most want to leave for your industry?" "Make good products, treat users as people, and see people as people!" Chen Hengjie, founder of "Chen Kangkang," the pioneering brand in the black sesame pill category, why would he give such an answer? What has he experienced in seven years of entrepreneurship? What are his thoughts for the future?
"What are you most afraid of?"
— "Failing in business, the company going bankrupt, and being unable to pay off debts!" In 2014, Chen Hengjie was the general manager of a book company in Tianjin. "At that time, the company sold over 20 million yuan in books annually, but I felt we had hit a ceiling, and my personal development was also at a dead end. It felt meaningless, so I wanted to go out and do something on my own." So Chen Hengjie resigned and, with friends, founded Yuenong Tribe, which was completely unrelated to his previous book business. They set up a homestay in Panshan, Tianjin. This was not a traditional homestay project; from the start, they planned to use new media for promotion, host parent-child and team-building activities, and promote agricultural products. To this end, they invested over 1 million yuan in building the homestay, ready to make a big push, but after a year, they only generated a few hundred thousand yuan in revenue, which, after accounting for labor costs, was severely insufficient. To increase revenue, they tried various methods, even attempting to offer training courses. But these attempts were unsuccessful, and they eventually found that selling agricultural products was more reliable. So they gradually shifted their focus to promoting agricultural products. Initially, they sold local specialty products like Shavo radish, sesame paste eggs, and dried fruits, mainly within their homestay customer and team network. In 2016, his business partner fell ill, and Chen Hengjie had to support the company alone. At the hardest time, the company's account had only 1,000 yuan left. "At that time, my greatest fear was failing in business, the company going bankrupt, and being unable to pay off debts." To increase revenue, Chen Hengjie even set up a stall outside a supermarket to sell goods. But these efforts could not cover the company's operating costs. After two years of struggle, they were deeply in debt. Fortunately, Chen Hengjie had many ideas and was willing to try new things. In 2017, Chen Hengjie keenly observed that selling products through WeChat official account articles was an opportunity, so he began to specifically look for novel, distinctive agricultural products and tried to get big accounts to promote them. This attempt brought a turning point to his career, which he called "a new opportunity to climb out of the pit."
"What do you consider your greatest achievement?"
— "Saving Yuenong and leading the team to continue developing." Revenue from official account article sales was much higher than from the stall. But what truly made him realize this was a big opportunity was a promotion of black corn. After that article was published, he didn't pay much attention, but the next day he found that he had received 6,292 orders overnight, and his account suddenly had 420,000 yuan more. What does 420,000 yuan mean? One night's sales were almost equivalent to the homestay's annual revenue! Chen Hengjie realized that with content e-commerce, Yuenong Tribe had a way to survive. Unlike platform e-commerce, WeChat official account articles are more suitable for promoting novel, distinctive, and high-quality products, so Chen Hengjie devoted a lot of energy to selecting good products. By chance, he discovered that in Bozhou, Anhui, there was a black sesame pill made from black sesame. After trying it, Chen Hengjie found the product not only novel but also healthy, nutritious, and tasty. His intuition told him this product had market potential. So he went to Bozhou to learn how to make black sesame pills and worked with his team to figure out how to productize it, making it more suitable for young people's tastes and for online sales. A few months later, the "Yuenong Tribe" black sesame pill was officially launched. Initially, they promoted it through official account articles. At the same time, Chen Hengjie noticed that Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) had considerable influence in product seeding and sales, so he decisively began to try promoting through Xiaohongshu KOCs. At that time, the market had no awareness of black sesame pills. Many consumers bought them out of curiosity and novelty, and thus Yuenong Tribe's black sesame pills gradually accumulated a considerable number of fans. Chen Hengjie also built his own factory in Bozhou. At that time, monthly sales were in the hundreds of thousands to millions, which could be described as lukewarm. The turning point came in April 2018. One day, a colleague told Chen Hengjie: "Our black sesame pills were recommended by Fan Ye!" Chen Hengjie was skeptical and quickly opened Xiaohongshu, hardly believing his eyes: Fan Ye had tried this little snack for the first time and couldn't help but recommend it on Xiaohongshu. Chen Hengjie said it felt like a huge pie falling from the sky! You know, at that time, Fan Ye was a true sales queen, and her recommendation had an immediate effect. Orders for black sesame pills soared from over a million yuan a month to several million. In 2018 alone, Yuenong Tribe sold tens of millions of yuan just from black sesame pills. A year earlier, he was scrambling to keep the company afloat, anxious every day; now, he had millions of yuan in daily turnover. Chen Hengjie said saving Yuenong and leading the team to continue developing was his greatest achievement so far. However, after saving Yuenong, more challenges lay ahead.
"What do you regret most?"
— "Not changing the name earlier and focusing on the brand." From 2019 to 2020, Chen Hengjie was driven by the market. As the market opened up and income increased, Chen Hengjie expanded his team and entered e-commerce platforms like Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin. By 2020, annual sales of black sesame pills had exceeded 100 million yuan, with cumulative sales of over 6 million bags. Yuenong Tribe brought black sesame pills to the market, creating a new category, and competitors soon followed. Chen Hengjie said that although the market had some awareness of black sesame pills, it was still a very niche category and extremely competitive. Why does he say that? Competitors entered with price wars, and Yuenong Tribe quickly fell from its absolute No.1 market share. No.1 in black sesame pill sales on Tmall Double 11 for 2 consecutive years! Top merchant on Youzan for 2 consecutive years! No.1 in black sesame pill sales on Xiaomi Youpin! No.1 in black sesame pill sales on Xiaohongshu! ... Under the price war, these market positions were taken over by other brands. In addition to external competitive pressure, internal management also faced challenges. With the team expanding to over 100 people, how to lead the team? How to coordinate profit distribution? How to unite people? How to make the organization more efficient? These were new challenges he had never faced since starting his business. Seizing the opportunity and riding the wave, the business suddenly grew big, but he was still in a daze. Now, suddenly facing these unprecedented internal and external challenges, Chen Hengjie fell into deep thought. Chen Hengjie admitted that it was at this moment he realized he had to think about brand, marketing, corporate management, and other issues he had previously ignored. After thinking it over, Chen Hengjie made a decision: to upgrade the brand. Yuenong Tribe was the original homestay brand, and they had used that name when launching black sesame pills, but Chen Hengjie felt he needed to create a new healthy snack brand. In 2020, "Chen Kangkang" replaced the "Yuenong Tribe" brand. "Chen Kangkang" is positioned as "healthy leisure snacks," aiming to provide core users with ultimate service through extreme product strength. Around the brand upgrade, the product's taste, craftsmanship, and packaging were all upgraded. In terms of taste, they launched different versions such as traditional honey-made, erythritol, and high-calcium to cover diverse needs; in terms of craftsmanship, they retained the ancient nine-steam-nine-sun method and applied scientific, refined, standardized quantitative production methods; in packaging, they introduced nitrogen-filled small packs that lock in freshness, resist pressure, and are easy to carry, suitable for various leisure consumption scenarios. Despite competitive pressure, Chen Hengjie does not follow trends. "Chen Kangkang" insists on using the highest quality raw materials, never compromising on ingredients, and providing users with truly high-quality, healthy, and delicious black sesame pills. Chen Hengjie knows that upgrading the brand will inevitably affect the market awareness accumulated in the past. But he says changing the name was the right decision, and he regrets not doing it earlier. Why? Initially, promoting agricultural products was to save the company, but now Chen Hengjie has clarified that creating a healthy snack brand, leading the team forward, doing it long-term, and providing consumers with truly good products is his lifelong career. "If this were the last moment of your life, what is the one sentence you would most want to leave for your industry?" — "Make good products, treat users as people, and see people as people!" Chen Hengjie is a thoughtful and eager learner. Especially in these years of entrepreneurship, most problems he encountered were new. How to solve them? Relying solely on his own thinking was not enough, so he often went out to learn, exchanged ideas with peers, and consulted experts. This not only inspired him but also made his heart more and more settled and grounded. Although many problems have no answers, the direction is clear. In terms of products, "Chen Kangkang" adheres to the concept of "delicious, healthy, and convenient," providing users with healthy leisure snacks. In addition to black sesame pills, they have expanded to include high-calcium black sesame cookies, six-ingredient hawthorn strips, and other products. In terms of channels, in 2019 Chen Hengjie tried to enter physical stores, but after many pitfalls, it ended in failure. In 2020, he began to develop offline distributors and explore specific offline strategies. Chen Hengjie believes that moving from online to offline is naturally difficult, but it is a necessary step. In terms of organization, the company's headcount peaked at nearly 100, and in 2021 it was streamlined to dozens. The rapid growth in performance led to an expansion of personnel, which also masked many problems. Now is the time to sort out the organization, processes, and management. Chen Hengjie said that the current market for black sesame pills is only about 1 billion yuan. As more people learn about this category, there is huge room for growth in the future. Therefore, in the face of competition, Chen Hengjie firmly believes that what he really needs to do is to do his own thing well, not follow the pace of competitors. Many new consumer brands use OEM and just put their label on it, but to ensure quality, Chen Hengjie insists on operating his own factory. Daily management is very demanding, but he believes it is essential for a long-term business. The biggest challenge now is how to adjust strategies in the face of market changes and lead the team through. "This mainly depends on whether I have the mental strength. The word I use most now is 'don't dwell on things.'" Chen Hengjie said with a smile. In his eyes, I saw determination, the ease and stability of a person who has found his place. "If this were the last moment of your life, what is the one sentence you would most want to leave for your industry?" I asked. "Make good products, treat users as people, and see people as people!" Why this sentence? I was curious. Chen Hengjie said that in the past two years, he has been asking himself: What was the original intention of starting a business? Just to make money? Definitely not! When he first resigned to start a business, he wanted to find something truly meaningful and valuable to do. Although the process was tortuous, in the years of making black sesame pills, Chen Hengjie not only fell in love with the industry but also came to regard providing healthy leisure snacks to users as the company's mission and his life's mission. "Making money is not the goal; making money is the result, the natural outcome after we provide users with truly good things." "We are in the food business. We must never lower our standards even a little bit just to earn more or due to short-term pressure. Only when we see 'people' in our eyes can we truly achieve this." Chen Hengjie said that along the way, like every entrepreneur, they have experienced a lot. They make good products with heart, use them to love others, and are loved by users and partners. The 'Chen Kangkang' presented to everyone today is the result of all these experiences. There is still a long way to go. He and his team will continue to uphold their simple values, strive to love others, and look forward to being favored by more love. Final Thoughts:
Initially, I decided to interview Chen Hengjie as a case study of a new consumer brand, but after the conversation, I felt that "Chen Kangkang" is better told as an entrepreneurial story.
Unlike many current new consumer brands, "Chen Kangkang" did not come from careful planning. It was not driven by capital, nor did it deliberately market any concept. It is simply a story of a young man dissatisfied with the status quo, starting a business, stumbling along the way, making a good product, and thereby creating a life's career. Chen Hengjie is lucky, lucky to have caught the wave of content e-commerce and to have achieved rapid growth due to the traffic dividend of a new category. There are many examples of short-term success due to a temporary dividend, but when the dividend disappears, can they continue to succeed? The essence of a dividend is a temporary imbalance between supply and demand. Those who enjoy dividends and make profits are often lucky. You must turn luck into strength, otherwise you will quickly lose your advantage as others enter. In my view, success at any time requires seizing dividends. But at different stages, the dividends you must seize are different. Category dividends can win you a moment, but only value dividends can keep you unbeaten in the long run, because few people can maintain their original intention and persist in doing things of long-term value. Traffic dividends can bring you rapid short-term growth, but only management dividends can ensure long-term survival, because few people are willing to do management down-to-earth. In my view, Chen Hengjie is on the right path. I wish him well. Focusing on in-depth interviews in the FMCG industry, thinking about the latest changes. If you want to communicate, you can add WeChat by long-pressing. When adding, please indicate your company, position, and name. -END-