Interview with Jaipal Singh; a machine learning wizard who loves biking and adventure

Here’s our transcript of an interview with Jaipal Singh, Machine Learning Engineer at Staple! He shares with us his motivation behind working in AI technology and why he loves the startup world. There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to this talented programming wizard from India — Jaipal is also a biking enthusiast who in 2019, completed a cross-country trip across Vietnam on a scooter and travelled on the “Hoi Van Pass”: what’s known as the most beautiful road in the world!

Jaipal’s responsibilities at Staple include managing data extraction from documents, including enhancements in machine learning and natural language processing (NLP).

What is your motivation behind joining the tech industry?

This is going to sound very naive, but as an individual, I’ve always contributed to activities and initiatives that were aimed at impacting large groups of individuals. This has been a common theme through my internships, time at NGOs, and even the kind of dreams I have. All this led me to the reflection that I, as a person, am fuelled to move forward by the potential of making a difference in the lives of others (or even one person).

Technology then fits into this equation perfectly. Given that today, every human on earth interacts with one form of technology or the other, there is a possibility that what I’m working on today or 5 years from now, is going to make the life of a million people better. Just this sheer possibility is what motivated me to join the tech industry and keeps me going!

What are you most passionate about?

Tough question, you really have me thinking hard. I think I’ll break this answer down into two parts.

Professionally: I’m really passionate about working in language technology. I’m extremely fascinated by how communities across the globe leverage language as a tool for communication and now that we’re in an age of technology where machines can be taught to understand language, I believe the possibilities are endless and we’re just getting started. So yeah, building badass language technology products is what I’m passionate about.

Personally: I’m an avid car and bike enthusiast! If I’m not coding, you’ll find me watching car videos, go-karting, or just tinkering around with my car. Cars are engineering marvels that are constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation and that have enabled us as species to go out and explore lands that have always been inaccessible. I enjoy taking these cars to the limit, be it in terms of speed or their ability to go to remote locations.

Inspired by my dad (who’s a huge motorbike enthusiast), I started touring on my bike when I was just a little over 18 years old. One of the earliest memories I have of biking is of those to a beach about 450km away from the university. I remember the day like it was yesterday because that’s when I truly fell in love with motorbikes. As for my most adventurous one? In 2019, after I graduated from university, inspired by Jeremy Clarkson from TopGear, I decided to ride across Vietnam on a 125cc scooter, covering over 2000km in a couple of weeks starting from Ho Chi Minh and riding up all the way North to Mai Chau! It was a rollercoaster of emotions! Nothing I’ve done ever since comes even remotely close to the thrills of those few weeks!

What made you choose Staple?

When I first heard about Staple, it was a mixed bag of feelings. I immediately was in love with the problem they were solving but was really skeptical about their ability to solve this mammoth. These doubts though faded away as soon as I met the team and the founders. The guys here knew exactly what they were doing and speaking to them gave me the confidence that Staple was a rocket ship on its way to the stars!

The other reason I joined Staple, is that it’s extremely close to my academia and prior work. Since university, I’ve worked on (purely out of passion) projects in document processing that help in reducing redundancies in systems that for years have been human-driven. Staple is solving to get rid of these exact redundancies!

Why stay in startups, not industry/big corporates?

Hahaha! Glad you asked. Having worked on both ends of the spectrum, I can confidently say that startups are way more exciting and fun to work in than big companies. Yea, big corporations give you the cushion of job security, low work pressure, and work flex (only if you’re in FAANG), but working in a startup is like being the pilot of a plane that you’re building as you fly! If you find the right problem/startup to work with, (this will sound very cliche) work does not seem like work anymore! It’s the perfect place for an adrenaline junkie like me.

Working at a startup is also a free-ing process. It’s a place where you can freely express and really push for what you want to build (as long as it aligns with the greater vision), get into heated conversations about user experiences, and walk away to have a beer with your colleagues an hour later. Unlike in big companies, where a lot of freedom is curbed purely due to hierarchical reasons and politics.

I know this might sound like a rant, but startups are downright awesome for one more reason. Working in a startup lets you wear multiple professional hats, which I believe is extremely important early on in an individual’s career. I was extremely focused on working in a particular niche in technology until I got into a startup and all of a sudden, I was doing sales, communications, and customer success at the same time! This experience is invaluable.

At the end of the day, I get joy from building things that people love, startups let me do that.

What projects are you working on now?

Currently, I’m working on building document processing technology for “Invoices”. To give you an example of the scale of the problem, Indians generate a little over 3.5 BILLION invoices in a month. Can you imagine the amount of time that’s then spent reading through these invoices and reconciling them? Scary.

This is the exact project that I’m working on right now. Using Staple’s AI, we are able to confidently extract data from any invoice in the world and use this data for downstream tasks such as settlements, reconciliation, and more. I primarily focus on building the Natural Language (NLP) and Computer Vision (CV) models for Information Extraction. We primarily work on transfer learning to adopt concepts from multiple small datasets and put them together.

How’s WFH during covid-times?

It’s been a rollercoaster ride. I don’t know if it was evident so far, but I as an individual really value the freedom to do things a lot. So being locked up in a house was not easy. Fortunately, with really good technology and sports broadcasting starting up again, staying at home has become easier. Also, the team that I work with is really understanding of the tough times and is extremely accommodating of any requests to take time off or just kick back on low days. The worst thing about being locked in for the longest time is that I’ve become inherently lazy, so for the last month I’ve been running and trying to get back in shape (please pray this continues).
Life’s good though.

About Staple :

At Staple, we are developing an AI solution that captures and reconciles high volumes of data quickly, accurately, and at scale. Our technology can process any sort of content no matter how complex it is for organizations like banks, corporates, or government departments!

For more information about how you too could benefit from Staple’s cutting edge innovation visit the website at www.staple.io or email us for details hello@staple.io