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Who is Soham Parekh? Indian techie accused of scamming Silicon Valley with 4 jobs at once

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03rd July, 2025 11:55 IST

Soham Parekh, an alleged Indian software engineer, has reportedly come under the spotlight after top Silicon Valley entrepreneurs accused him of moonlighting at several startups at the same time. His story has shocked many in the tech world, with at least five startup founders publicly claiming they were fooled.

How the accusations began

The first public allegation came from Suhail Doshi, the founder of Playground AI and co-founder of Mixpanel. In a post on X, he warned startups about Soham Parekh, saying he had worked at three to four companies simultaneously. Doshi said Parekh briefly joined one of his companies last year and was fired within the first week from the job when they discovered the truth.

 

“PSA: There’s a guy named Soham Parekh (in India) who works at 3–4 startups at the same time. He’s been preying on YC companies and more. Beware,” Doshi posted.

 

 

More founders speak out

After Doshi’s post, more founders came forward with similar experiences. Flo Crivello, CEO of Lindy, said he had hired Parekh just a week ago. 

He admitted that Parekh had performed “incredibly well” in interviews but was fired the following morning after they learned about the allegations.

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Matthew Parkhurst, CEO of Antimetal, also confirmed hiring Parekh in 2022. He said Parekh was their first engineering hire and described him as “really smart and likable.” But, like others, Parkhurst found out he was working for other companies too and had to let him go.

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“Hiring Soham is a new rite of passage tbh,” Parkhurst joked on X.

Nicolai Ouporov, co-founder of Fleet AI, also confirmed Soham Parekh’s name was on their team list.

 

 

Tricks of the 'overemployed'

Tech investor Deedy Das, who backed AI companies in the past, called Soham Parekh the 'tip of the iceberg.' He said many more such cases exist but go unnoticed. Das explained the tricks some of these so-called “overemployed” workers use to manage multiple remote jobs:

  • Using mouse jugglers to keep the computer active
  • Blocking calendars as “focus time”
  • Turning cameras off during meetings
  • Taking leave in the first week of work
  • Outsourcing tasks secretly
  • Delaying work even if done early
  • Keeping LinkedIn low-profile
  • Giving generic replies like nothing from my end in meetings
'He seemed genuine during interviews' 

Founders say that Parekh was well-prepared and convincing during interviews. At Lindy, he said he had left Antimetal due to time zone issues and that he was unsure about working for a FinOps company.

This explanation sounded reasonable at the time and helped him secure another job.

Soham Parekh's response 

Parekh has not spoken publicly yet. But according to Doshi, he reached out privately. In his message, he appeared to express regret and asked for advice on how to fix his situation.

“Have I completely sabotaged my career? What can I do to improve my situation? I’m happy to come clean,” Parekh reportedly wrote to Doshi.

But, was it really just one person?

One user on X suggested that Soham Parekh may not be acting alone. Based on how he managed several jobs at once, they speculated it could actually be a group of engineers using the same identity. 

"It was probably 5 Indian dudes hustling it out under the same name and splitting what they would've considered revenue of their engineer-as-a-service startup," the post said. While there is no proof yet, this theory adds a new twist to the growing conversation about remote work fraud.

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