What do JoeBen Bevirt and Benjamin Franklin have in common?\u00a0 They both grew up without electricity and built kites to find it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0While being without electricity was the default condition in Franklin\u2019s day, JoeBen was raised in a hippy commune <\/a>in the Santa Cruz Mountains.\u00a0 Neither man found the deprivations of\u00a0his youth to be an impediment to creativity.<\/p>\n \u00a0The phrase that keeps popping up in articles about JoeBen Bevirt, founder of Joby, inc. and Joby Energy, is “inveterate inventor.”\u00a0 Inveterate has the sense of growing old in one’s habits, something unlikely to happen to a truly inventive soul such as JoeBen.\u00a0 Deviser of a knobby-looking grip that can be fastened to almost anything, and which can hold cameras, lights, and other photographic gear, Bevirt has seen his Gorillapod<\/a> become a huge success, and expand into Gorillamobile and Gorillatorch versions, hands-free flexible tripods to hold cell phones, flashlights, and other personal electronic\u00a0devices.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Earlier, he designed robotic systems to aid in biopharmaceutical research labs.\u00a0 As you would expect with a truly inventive soul, his new effort is in a new field with a new company, Joby Energy<\/a>, exploring new technology.<\/p>\n