Christopher Modi: Outdoorsman

Finance and government senior Christopher Modi grew up in Westchester County, N.Y., with a love for the outdoors. During high school, he spent his free time backpacking, canoeing and kayaking, while soaking in the region’s picturesque landscapes. His only complaint?

“Kayaks are not exactly portable, and there is nothing worse than hiking eight or nine miles into the back country, coming to a beautiful lake and not having a way to enjoy it.”

The only kayaks available at the time were heavy and difficult to set up. So Modi took those design constraints and turned them into design goals: a kayak that was lightweight, easy to configure and small enough to place in a backpack for a day’s worth of hiking. Despite a lack of engineering know-how, Modi relied on his strength as an analytical thinker to create a blueprint for the boat.

“By having a clear vision of what the final product would look like, I worked backwards and designed each functional set of components, and then worked backwards even further to design each component,” he says. “Working backwards, I identified potential problem areas and set my analytical skills to work.”

After a year of planning and design, Modi created a prototype called the Modiak™ in 2003. The collapsible kayak features an outer skin attached seamlessly to the body of the kayak, which is constructed of lightweight synthetic polymer and alloy materials. The skin is composed of polyester that has been specially treated to be waterproof and resistant to tears and abrasions. The 12-foot kayak collapses to four-and-a-half inches thick and weighs less than 25 pounds.

During his senior year in high school, Modi’s kayak took third place at the 2004 Westchester Science and Engineering Fair. It also placed third at the 2004 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and garnered additional accolades from the Coast Guard and Army representatives participating in the fair.

That success convinced Modi he could commercialize his kayak. With the help of a family friend who is a patent attorney, Modi initiated the patent process for his watercraft.

“After completing a thorough market analysis, I knew that not only did I have something big, but there was a market of sufficient size and need that would be able to support it,” he says.

Upon entering the McCombs School in the fall of 2004, Modi read about Management Professor John S. Butler on the university’s Web site and decided to set up a meeting. Butler liked the idea enough to put together a team of advisers for Modi—McCombs Marketing Professor William H. Cunningham and Alan Blake, BBA ’01. Working together, the team of experienced entrepreneurs mentored Modi and helped him develop a strategy for marketing the Modiak.

Butler advised Modi to ensure the intellectual property was protected and then outsource the manufacturing of the kayak. Blake shared with Modi his experience introducing a new product to the marketplace.

“I told him, ‘Don’t try to re-invent the wheel,’” Blake says. “I suggested he look for manufacturing and distribution partners to whom he can license his technology in return for a royalty. It will make fewer dollars per sale, but will likely make more money in the end, with dramatically lower risk.”

Inventing the kayak and collaborating with McCombs experts has given Modi real-time entrepreneurial experience far beyond what most students his age are exposed to.

“I’ve gained firsthand experience in product development, project management, intellectual property law, patent valuation, among many other areas,” Modi says.

“These experiences have allowed me to take otherwise abstract material from my classes and apply it to a real-world scenario.”

Since creating the original Modiak prototype, Modi has conducted frequent testing, developed a second-generation model and is currently managing a team of engineers on a third-generation prototype. It’s a perfect fit for Modi, who has always known that he is an entrepreneur at heart.

“Entrepreneurship is about seeing opportunities where others do not,” he says. “I came to McCombs to prepare myself with the core skills necessary to swiftly act on those opportunities.”

After graduating in May, Modi joined Accenture as a management consultant and hopes to see the Modiak in stores within a year.

- Nariman Ahmed