One of the main fields of AI is Natural Language Processing and its applications in the real world. Here on Amalgam.ai we are building different models to solve some of the problems around the NLP world, and by consequence, trying to make the world a better place.

The Competition:

Can machine learning identify the appropriate reading level of a passage of text, and help inspire learning? Reading is an essential skill for academic success. When students have access to engaging passages offering the right level of challenge, they naturally develop reading skills. If a passage is too easy, the student can get bored, if is too hard the student can quit, so, we need the optimal level of challenge to keep them interested in the reading.

In this competition we were asked to build machine learning algorithms to rate the complexity of reading passages for grade 3-12 classroom use, thus, helping administrators, teachers, and students in their day to day in the classroom.

The results of this competition will be scored on the root mean squared error. RMSE is defined as:

The Dataset:

For this competition the organization provided excerpts from several time periods and a wide range of reading ease scores.

The data has these columns:

• id: unique ID for excerpt;
• url_legal: URL of source;
• license: license of source material;
• excerpt: text to predict reading ease of;
• target: reading ease;
• standard_error: measure of spread of scores among multiple raters for each excerpt.

A curious case in this dataset is that the rating of complexity was made by different people. So, in some cases the standard deviation of rating was very big, showing that even for humans it is hard to reach a consensus about the complexity of a passage.

Our Approach:

As shown  in the description of the competition we are dealing with a regression problem. To tackle this, our approach is basically divided in two steps:

1. Further pre-train a Transformer model on competition dataset;

2. Fine tune a Transformer to the regression task of the competition.

Our solution can be better visualized on the diagram below:

Part 1 – Further Pre-Train Transformer

In this competition, we decided to use a RoBERTa Large and a RoBERTa Base, due to a better performance on the task in hand..

To do the pre-train we use the HuggingFace transformers library in association with our open-source libraries Aurum and Stripping. Together we were able to track every experiment that we made. We pre-train our model for 5, 8 and 10 epochs. The best results for RoBERTa Large were achieved with 8 epochs and for RoBERTa Base the best results were achieved with 5 epochs.

Part 2 – Fine tuning for the task:

Once our transformer models were ready, the second part consisted in the fine tuning for the specific task of rate the complexity of a text passage. To do this we trained a neural network with an attention head and a linear layer predicting the values of target.

To this part, we also used Aurum and Stripping to experiment control and PyTorch Lightning to create the models and for distributed training.

Part 2.1 – The Good Ol’ Classic ML:

One of the approaches, not for fine tuning but for prediction, we trained SVM’s regressors using as input the output of the transformers models. We did that using ScikitLearn library and 5 fold cross validation.

Ensemble and Predictions:

To generate the final submission for the competition we made a weighted ensemble using 4 different models with different settings of pre-trained RoBERTa models and fine tuned regression models. We also used SVM’s as regressors either.

In the modern world the competition for marketing space is fierce, nowadays every company that wants the slight advantage needs AI to select the best customers and increase the ROI of marketing campaigns. And of course, our team at Amalgam.ai is developing solutions to this field.

The Challenge:

In this competition we were challenged to build a model that predicts the probability of a customer purchasing a product.

The score chosen to measure the quality of the prediction was the F1 Score. This metric measures the harmonic mean of the precision and the recall scores from the prediction.

The Dataset:

The dataset for this challenge was composed of 70 columns with the following order:

1. 1 target column;

2. 1 id column;

3. 68 columns of different types of variables

All the columns of this dataset were anonymized for this challenge, which created a different level of complexity for the problem.

Our Approach:

Feature Engineering:

To tackle this problem we focused heavily on the feature engineering of the dataset. As the first step we tried to locate and analyze the variables which contributed the most to the labels.

Once we tracked these variables we started to generate new features based on them. These features were generated by extracting statistics, creating relations with other features and grouping with different sets of parameters.

Modeling:

When we get the feature engineering just right we started the modeling part. This was done using  classical machine learning models, such as: XGBoost, LightGBM and CatBoost.

One approach that was very effective was to initialize the same model with different seeds and average their predictions, this method created very robust predictions in simple manner.

Other approach that worked very well was to use AutoGluon, an automl library that create stacking and ensembles in an automatic way.

Once the models were trained we did an ensemble with all of them. In my solution we used an ensemble of LightGBM + XGBoost + CatBoost + AutoGluon stacking. To do the ensemble we used majority voting between all the models.

Conclusion

This was a very fun and interesting challenge, we learned a lot, mostly how to handle anonymized datasets. With the approach presented here we finished the competition in 15th out of 174 teams.

We’re behind the development of several Startups. The Exponential Venture’s Founder is the former CTO and co-founder of Startup Foundry where he helped create startups such as Quickly Legal, Respect, Curio, and Crowdspring. We’re also behind a few Open Source projects, the most notable being the Network Scanning frontend called Zenmap (formerly known as Umit) that is distributed by all mainstream Linux distributions and is used daily by hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity engineers throughout the world. It has even featured in the movie Bourne Ultimatum!

We know that quality employee are a company’s greatest asset, and that is why we don’t settle for anything less than the best. If we choose to work together, know that not only you will be allowed to speak your mind and contribute ideas, but you will be expected to so at all times. We also expect our teammates to strive to grow and take the lead on the projects that we create.

Currently, we’re looking for a SDR with solid sale skills, interest in working on an agile environment, and interested in stretching his or her skillsets. This is a full-time position to work remotely.

Here is the kind of professional we’re looking for:

• Proficient in both Portuguese and English
• Experience selling B2B
• Great communication skills
• Experience qualifying Inbound and Outbound opportunities
• Experience organizing sales pipelines
• Knowledge of pre-sales processes
• Goal oriented

And here is what you’ll be doing:

• Relationship Development
• Pipeline progression
• Result analysis
• Lead qualification from Inbound and Outbound sources

We’re strong believers in cultivating a strong culture and a healthy work environment. Here are the benefits we offer:

• Stock Equity
• Competitive Salary
• Flexible Paid Vacation
• Free books (regular, audio, ebooks)
• Time to dedicate on your own ideas and hacking events
• Annual allowance for professional development

Exponential Ventures values diversity and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. We are committed to creating a work environment that is welcoming and empowering to all of our employees, and we believe that this is what makes us stronger.

To apply, send an email to jobs@xnv.io

All recruiters are automatically forwarded to /dev/null.

Our hiring process is constituted of 8 steps:
– Quick Call (15 min)
– Technical Interview (45 min – 1 hour)
– Interview with Director (30 min)
– Meet the Team (45 min)
– Interview with Adriano – CEO of XNV (30 min)
– Call for references
– Offer (15 – 30 min)
– Onboarding

Quick Call

That is your first contact with Exponential Ventures!

This step was created to present you with the company and clarify any questions that you may have about the business or the position. Usually, it does not take longer than 15 minutes accordingly to the number of questions of the candidate.

Technical Interview

Here we will evaluate your technical skills during an interview, focusing on the requirements of each position that we have available, that step takes a little more time than the previous one, usually from 30 min to 1 hour. Here is what to expect:

– Developers – Q&A Session about the technologies needed for the position you applied for.
– Product Designers and Designers – Three different possibilities for you to choose from. A take-home exercise, a case presentation, or a whiteboard interview.
– Sales – This step is mixed with the interview with Director, and you must expect questions about your sales process, tools, and previous experiences.
– Marketing positions –  This step is mixed with the interview with Director, and you must expect questions about your sales process, tools, and previous experiences.

Interview with Director

At this step, you will meet one of the directors of Exponential Ventures. That is a great chance to understand more in-depth about the work that you will be doing here, how our operations work, and clarify any questions that you may have. That is not a technical interview, it is just a conversation that takes no longer than 30 min.

Meet the Team

Meet the Team is one of the most interesting steps in our process. You will have the opportunity to meet our team without the presence of any leadership in the meeting, our goal here is to make you comfortable to understand our culture, the people that you will be working with, confirm information that you think is relevant to your decision and present yourself to your future colleagues.

At Exponential Ventures, we believe that should be no surprises when joining us, so this step helps us to make our company even more transparent for you.
This step takes around 30 min to 1 hour.

Interview with Adriano

Adriano loves to get to know the people that are joining Exponential Ventures, so at this step, you both will have the opportunity to know each other and ask any further questions that were not clarified before.

This step usually takes no longer than 30 min according to the candidate.

Call for references

At this step, we will need a list of 3 professional references, from people that worked with you in the past with their email, phone numbers, best times to call them (with their time zone), and whether they speak English. It is not a problem if they don’t, just useful to know if they do.

It is also important for you to reach out to them first and advise them about this call. It should not take more than 5 minutes and we have only 3 questions.

We must speak to your professional references by voice.

At this step, we also need your salary history for the past 3 years or past 3 employers. That is important for us to make an offer that makes sense for you at your career moment.

As this step relies on the availability of people outside of our process (our team and you) we can make it alongside the Meet the Team, so it does not increase the time to finish the process.

Offer

At this time you will have a call with Adriano to receive your offer. And don’t worry, you are not expected to provide your answer at this time. This call usually takes around 15 minutes.

Onboarding

Welcome! Now we are going to receive you in the best way possible, making sure that you understand everything about our company, projects, culture, and have access to everything that you need to get started.

You will have a lot to learn and many new faces to meet, and you can be sure that we will be thrilled to receive you!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate on reaching out to ask!

But that is not the whole story. PyJobs was initially founded by Vinicius Mesel, which later joined forces with Rodolfo Egarter to create FrontJobs and RecrutaDev. Focused on serving the Frontend Development community, FrontJobs quickly gained popularity as a critical resource for companies and professionals. RecrutaDev became the consultancy arm that offered high-touch tech recruiting solutions for companies of all sizes, including JusBrasil, Vitreo, Giant Steps Capital, Geru, SkyOne, Argyle, and several others.

As a long-time customer of these platforms and delighted with the impressive results achieved through them, Exponential Ventures engaged in negotiations with Mesel and Egarter for an acquisition deal that would bring the business to the next level. The outcome of these negotiations became Pluo, a job board and recruiting platform for technology professionals that aims to reduce the time to hire by simplifying and improving the candidate qualification process.

Pluo will also focus on helping North American and European companies find local workers and gain easy access to remote workers in Latin America.

Today, we’re very proud to announce the launch of Pluo.jobs, and the beginning of this long walk to revolutionize the way companies and professionals find each other to make dreams come true!

Stay tuned for new feature releases that will follow this launch in the next weeks by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

PyJobs, FrontJobs, and RecrutaDev are now Pluo. And we would like to invite you to join us, being part of the Pluo revolution!

We’re behind the development of several Startups. The Exponential Venture’s Founder is the former CTO and co-founder of Startup Foundry where he helped create startups such as Quickly Legal, Respect, Curio, and Crowdspring. We’re also behind a few Open Source projects, the most notable being the Network Scanning frontend called Zenmap (formerly known as Umit) that is distributed by all mainstream Linux distributions and is used daily by hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity engineers throughout the world. It has even featured in the movie Bourne Ultimatum!

We know that quality employee are a company’s greatest asset, and that is why we don’t settle for anything less than the best. If we choose to work together, know that not only you will be allowed to speak your mind and contribute ideas, but you will be expected to so at all times. We also expect our teammates to strive to grow and take the lead on the projects that we create.

Currently, we’re looking for a Sales professional with solid sale skills, experience working on an agile environment, and interested in stretching his or her skillsets. This is a full-time position to work remotely or from our office in the Austin, Texas.

Here is the kind of professional we’re looking for:

• Proficient in both Portuguese and English
• Experience selling B2B
• Great communication skills
• Experience qualifying Inbound and Outbound opportunities
• Experience organizing sales pipelines
• Knowledge of pre-sales processes
• Goal oriented

And here is what you’ll be doing:

• Relationship Development
• Pipeline progression
• Result analysis
• Sales closure from Inbound and Outbound sources

We’re strong believers in cultivating a strong culture and a healthy work environment. Here are the benefits we offer:

• Stock Equity
• Competitive Salary
• Flexible Paid Vacation
• Free books (regular, audio, ebooks)
• Time to dedicate on your own ideas and hacking events
• Annual allowance for professional development

Exponential Ventures values diversity and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. We are committed to creating a work environment that is welcoming and empowering to all of our employees, and we believe that this is what makes us stronger.

To apply, send an email to jobs@xnv.io

All recruiters are automatically forwarded to /dev/null.

Spoiler: it is NOT an Incubator or Accelerator

I have probably interviewed a few hundred professionals in my career as an Entrepreneur. After breaking the ice, one of the first things I do is ask the candidate if they know what Exponential Ventures does and what it means to be a Startup Studio. It turns out that only a tiny portion of the candidates understand what a Startup Studio does and how it differs from an Incubator or Accelerator. It is frustrating because our business model is significantly different (and more exciting) than an Incubator or even an Accelerator. Don’t worry; by the end of this post, you’ll know the difference too.

The Incubator: A Company that Nurtures Startups

Entrepreneurs starting on a tiny budget face an uphill battle on pretty much everything related to starting a business. Without investment, the entrepreneur is left to operate the business from home, often in their spare time, without the resources and network needed to kickstart the business. At this stage, the entrepreneurs would most likely be working on figuring out whether the business plan premises are aligned with the market, talking to potential customers, and securing some kind of investment to keep the business moving forward. Doing all of this on your own can be a daunting task, and it is the trail on which most entrepreneurial endeavors meet their fate.

The Startup Incubator is a place where entrepreneurs gain access to a shared co-working space, receive small bootstrap investments, mentorship, and access to resources to help them grow their ideas into validated business ideas. Some incubators are non-profit organizations kept and run by private and public entities looking to help local entrepreneurs get past their initial steps.

If you’re an entrepreneur struggling with figuring out how to start your business properly, Startup Incubators are good places to look for support. Make sure to look around and evaluate all opportunities available in your region before committing to one of them, especially if you’re required to give up equity in exchange for support. Giving up equity makes a lot more sense if an investment is associated with participation in the program, but that may not be true if the level of support offered is not backed up by an infusion of hard currency.

The Accelerator: A Company that Helps Startups Grow

For entrepreneurs that are further ahead on the game but ready to commit to the startup full time and looking for a boost, the Startup Accelerators are a viable alternative. Y Combinator and Techstars are amongst the most well-known accelerators. They’ll only take in startups that have already shown some early promises and a founding team ready to commit full-time to pursuing the business. The relationship is also meant to last a short period. On average, entrepreneurs stay engaged with an accelerator for three months, and at the end of this period, they’ll be actively seeking investment to keep growing from there. I do not know of any accelerator that does not require a significant amount of equity in exchange for their support. However, most of them will also make a small seed investment in exchange for that equity. They will also help you find more investors to keep the business growing after the end of the relationship. Accelerators also offer mentorship, shared co-working spaces, networking opportunities, and other valuable resources like most other incubators. Once out of their nest at the end of the program, entrepreneurs retain access to their network of mentors and investors for additional support in the future. However, you’ll be mostly on your own.

The Studio: A Company that Builds Startups from Scratch

Different from the Incubator and the Accelerator that exists exclusively to support the ideas of other entrepreneurs, a Startup Studio is a business focused on creating new companies from the ground up, leveraging its team and resources and sustaining that company for as long as it proves to remain a viable business or is ready to stand on its legs.

Instead of offering meager resources and dedicating little effort into the development of a business like an Incubator do, or having an intense and quick affair with lasting financial consequences (potentially good or bad) like an Accelerator, the Startup Studio model covers it all, being supported by a team that launches companies for a living instead of advising a living. A Startup Studio also incurs more risks than an Incubator or Accelerator since it commits a lot more time and resources to each startup. In exchange, the Studio model also retains the most equity of them all.

One of the key advantages of this model is that ideas can go from paper to market, skipping ahead several steps at once. No need to convince investors, hire engineers, figure out office, payroll, processes, etc. Everything is already in place, and the team can pick up an idea and quickly launch it to see if it achieves product/market fit. If it doesn’t, the project can be terminated, and the resources redirected to another idea. If it does, the project can either continue running from inside the Studio, pursue more investment for growth, spin it off as a separate company, or sell it. Either way, the Studio is better off by either having learned from the failure or profited from the success.

There you have it. A Startup Studio is a Company specialized in creating other companies. Exponential Ventures is one of the many true Startup Studios out there, but with an exclusive emphasis and know-how on Exponential Technologies. Aside from maintaining a team of designers, engineers, marketing, recruiting, and operators, we also carry a team of data scientists, and we have an on-premise cluster dedicated to Artificial Intelligence research and development. No startup can start with this much competitive advantage by going through the incubator or accelerator routes, and an entrepreneur would need to secure an uncommonly substantial initial investment to put together comparable resources as quickly as we can.

By the way, we’re always looking for talented professionals with an entrepreneurial spirit interested in joining our team to build amazing companies from scratch. If this feels like you, check our openings here.

We’re behind the development of several Startups. The Exponential Venture’s Founder is the former CTO and co-founder of Startup Foundry where he helped create startups such as Quickly Legal, Respect, Curio, and Crowdspring. We’re also behind a few Open Source projects, the most notable being the Network Scanning frontend called Zenmap (formerly known as Umit) that is distributed by all mainstream Linux distributions and is used daily by hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity engineers throughout the world. It has even featured in the movie Bourne Ultimatum!

We know that quality employee are a company’s greatest asset, and that is why we don’t settle for anything less than the best. If we choose to work together, know that not only you will be allowed to speak your mind and contribute ideas, but you will be expected to so at all times. We also expect our teammates to strive to grow and take the lead on the projects that we create.

Currently, we’re looking for a Social Media professional with solid community building skills, experience working on an agile environment, and interested in stretching his or her skillsets. This is a full-time position to work remotely or from our office in the Austin, Texas.

Here is the kind of professional we’re looking for:

• Proficient in both Portuguese and English
• Experience building communities
• Great communication skills
• Experience researching and producing content
• Knowledge of social SEO
• Always up-to-date with the most recent social media thrends and innovations
• Good design skills
• Focus in social media post productions

And here is what you’ll be doing:

• Strategic Planning
• Content research and production
• Result analysis
• Market research
• Community building

We’re strong believers in cultivating a strong culture and a healthy work environment. Here are the benefits we offer:

• Stock Equity
• Competitive Salary
• Flexible Paid Vacation
• Free books (regular, audio, ebooks)
• Time to dedicate on your own ideas and hacking events
• Annual allowance for professional development

Exponential Ventures values diversity and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. We are committed to creating a work environment that is welcoming and empowering to all of our employees, and we believe that this is what makes us stronger.

To apply, send an email to jobs@xnv.io

All recruiters are automatically forwarded to /dev/null.

Now we are seeing a backward movement, companies are starting to ask employees to come back to their office twice or three times a week, and some of them moved across the United States to other states or countries. The outcome of all of this coming-back-to-office-strategy is rising unhappiness and higher costs for both companies and employees.

So these points below will show you why you should remain remote forever in your company

#1 – Easier onboarding of candidates

As candidates don’t need to switch routines, addresses and their timezone, onboarding is quite easier.

If your company allows the BYOD policy (bring your own device), you will have a candidate setup for the company since he gets the agreement signed and requirements passed by his supervisor.

If you company uses specific hardware and software that are strictly confidential, you can send your employee a box with all of the company’s swag and tech stuff, making them feel comfortable since Day 0.

#2 – Broader access to candidates worldwide

Not having any geographical boundaries will allow your company to retain and hire more employees around the world.

For example, if you want to hire Python developers, you could check out PyJobs.com.br: This Is a website that enables worldwide developers to find Python development jobs worldwide, all while sitting in their home office.

During the pandemic, people are becoming more selective about which jobs they will take. They are thinking about contributing less traffic, expanding their international experiences, and receiving payments in other currencies than their local ones.

#3 – Happier employees

According to a survey run by Owl Labs and Inc.com where over 1,200 were interviewed, 22% more people between ages 22 and 65 were happier working remotely than people who never worked remotely in their life.

The reasons candidates prefer and/or chose why they chose to work remotely were:

• work-life balance (91%),
• increased productivity/better focus (79%),
• less stress (78%), and
• avoid a commute (78%).

How is your company adapting to this new remote culture? Let us know here in the comments!

PS: Thanks Natasha Andreil for reviewing our article

When hiring for a professional, we have an ideal vision of who we are looking for. A professional with X years of experience in Y stack and that speaks Z languages totally as a native. Klingon is a differential, of course.

But is it possible to find these candidates? Well, being completely honest. Yes, it is.

But that brings up another question. Do you have time and budget for this hunt?

Professionals that fulfill all the requirements of the market, not surprisingly, are already hired and working in a company that very often pays very well to keep them there. So if you are looking to hire these people you have few alternatives.

– Being an incredible and revolutionary company with an amazing culture

– Have a TON of money to dump on hiring

– Have time to find someone that is not getting the amount of money that deserves or is unsatisfied with their workplaces.

And believe me, for a tech company, time is the most valuable resource and you don’t want to waste it.

And if you are hiring someone just by paying more, are you sure that this person will not leave if someone covers your offer? No matter how much you pay, there is always someone with more resources willing to pay more. You need to have something different to stop losing your team.

If you are okay with it, you can pursue this mythical professional and even succeed. As an expert in hiring, my company has made it several times, and I warn you, it takes time even if you know all the shortcuts.

But here is the moment for the little secret of the article.

There are TONS of unicorns in the market. And sometimes even they are not aware of what they are.

Here is the trick. Instead of hiring based exclusively on the skillset and experience, try to have a different approach and look also for the potential of the professional.

You can nurture your own unicorn, shaping a professional that is perfect for your business just by providing training and growth opportunities. In a few months, you will have someone that understands your business and has practical knowledge of the tech needed to make it work. And that is just the beginning.

When hiring for potential, you give someone an opportunity and a vow of confidence that creates a deep bond between this professional and the company, and it decreases drastically the turn-over in your business.

Of course, that money is important and you should pay well the people that are making your business grow, but those tokens of appreciation and trust play a big role when someone is trying to steal this professional from you.

Don’t think about investing in your team as a waste of resources because they can leave. You should be far more afraid of not investing and having them stay anyway.

When hiring, think of it as you think about your business. Focusing in the long run. Nurturing a team is a far better investment than hiring a full team that is just ready to go, and ready to leave.

So, are you looking for an unicorn?