Engineer Juggled Four Startups, Fooled Silicon Valley – The Full Scandal

Background

Software engineer Soham Parekh, originally from India, was hired by several early‑stage startups after impressing interviewers with strong technical performance, smooth communication, and an attractive résumé offering up to $200,000 annual salary.

Multiple Full‑Time Jobs

Within a year, Parekh simultaneously held up to four full‑time engineering positions, often at YC‑backed companies, earning a combined salary of several hundred thousand dollars.

Deceptive Behavior

After joining a company, he began frequently disappearing: missing meetings, delaying tasks, and providing a wide range of excuses such as illness, power outages, water damage, and even claiming a drone bombed his building. During one of his alleged sick‑leave weeks, he remained active on GitHub, submitting code for another firm.

Public Exposure

The scandal broke when former Mixpanel CEO and entrepreneur Suhail Doshi posted a public safety alert on X (formerly Twitter), naming Parekh and accusing him of fabricating his résumé and working for multiple startups simultaneously. Doshi also shared Parekh’s résumé, noting that many of the links were broken or false.

Community Reaction

Founders of several startups confirmed they had been duped, with some discovering Parekh’s involvement during the same week via Zoom recordings. The incident sparked widespread discussion on platforms like Reddit and X about the ethics of remote engineers holding multiple jobs, especially during economic downturns and layoffs.

Parekh’s Admission

In a technical podcast, Parekh admitted to the multi‑employment, stating he was not proud and only acted out of “extreme economic hardship,” working up to 140 hours per week to survive.

Latest Development

Following the exposure, Parekh signed an exclusive agreement to become the founding engineer of a new startup, Darwin. Its founder, Sanjit Juneja, expressed confidence in Parekh’s talent despite the controversy, describing the hire as a gamble on trust and redemption.

Implications

The case highlights challenges in remote team management, the need for better verification during hiring, and the moral complexities of engineers taking multiple concurrent roles in a high‑pressure startup environment.