The Silicon Valley Engineer Who Juggled Four Startups: A Cautionary Tale

Soham Parekh, an Indian software engineer, managed to secure full‑time positions at up to four different early‑stage startups in Silicon Valley, earning a combined salary of several hundred thousand dollars per year.

His interview performance was described as "god‑level," easily outshining dozens of other candidates and receiving offers up to $200,000 annually.

After joining, Parekh began taking frequent leaves with a wide range of excuses—illness, power outages, water damage, and even claiming a drone bombed his building—while his GitHub activity remained high, revealing that he was still committing code for other companies during his sick days.

The situation came to light when former Mixpanel CEO Suhail Doshi posted a public safety alert on X, naming Parekh and accusing him of fabricating his résumé and working for multiple Y Combinator‑backed startups simultaneously.

Numerous founders confirmed they had been duped, some discovering Parekh’s involvement only after reviewing Zoom recordings that showed him appearing in meetings for different companies at the same time.

In a technical podcast, Parekh admitted to the multi‑job arrangement, stating he was not proud of it but felt forced by extreme economic hardship, working up to 140 hours per week.

The revelation sparked a broader discussion about the ethics of remote engineers holding multiple full‑time roles, especially amid economic downturns and layoffs, with many in the tech community acknowledging similar practices.

Following the exposure, Parekh signed an exclusive agreement to become the founding engineer at a startup called Darwin, which publicly expressed confidence in his talent despite the controversy.

Reference: https://www.techspot.com/news/108566-crushed-interview-silicon-valley-duped-software-engineer-secretly.html