Who is Soham Parekh, Indian techie accused of moonlighting at multiple firms?

A US-based AI founder has publicly accused an Indian techie of moonlighting at multiple companies without disclosure.

Soham Parekh, who is believed to be based in India, is alleged to have simultaneously worked at up to four or five startups — many of them backed by Y Combinator — raising questions about hiring practices in remote-first tech culture.

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Indian techie's moonlighting exposed

Suhail Doshi, founder of Playground AI and former CEO of analytics firm Mixpanel, posted a public warning on X, accusing Soham Parekh of ‘scamming people’ by working at three to four startups at the same time.

“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,” he said in his post

Doshi said Parekh had briefly joined Playground AI last year but was fired within a week after his dual employment came to light.

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“I fired this guy in his first week and told him to stop lying / scamming people. He hasn’t stopped a year later. No more excuses,” he wrote.

'Fake CV'

Doshi also shared what he claimed was Parekh’s CV, which shows that the techie has worked at Dynamo AI, Union AI, Synthesia and Alan AI in numerous technological roles.

The CV further shows that he did his bachelor's from the University of Mumbai and master's from Georgia Institute of Technology. But the Playground founder said, “Probably 90% fake and most links are gone.”

Doshi said that he tried to explain the impact of this but it did not work out. “I want to also say that I tried to talk sense into this guy, explain the impact, and give him a chance to turn a new leaf because sometimes that’s what a person needs. But it clearly didn’t work,” he said.

Social media reacts

Suhail Doshi's post has drawn mixed opinions from netizens. While some founders backed Doshi, others asked why moonlighting is wrong.

At least five other companies have come forward to accuse Soham Parekh of scamming them. Many agreed that he came across as knowledgeable in his interviews and managed to fool them initially.

Antimetal CEO Matthew Parkhurst also confirmed that Soham Parekh had worked for them. He described Parekh as “really smart” but said he was fired for working at multiple other companies.

Nicolai Ouporov, co-founder and CEO of Fleet AI, also confirmed that Parekh works at multiple startups at any given time.

Is moonlighting wrong?

However, some people asked why moonlighting is wrong if Parekh aced interviews and met deliverables.

“Why do you feel moonlighting is wrong? If he aced the interviews and was the best so you hired him - what’s wrong? As long as he meets all deliverables on time with the right attitude,” a person asked.

“Gets nothing done. Made up constant lies. Corroborated by 6+ other companies. The tweet will surface 10+ more - you’ll see,” Doshi replied.

Techie seeks advice

Though Soham Parekh has not addressed the fallout publicly. However, Doshi has said that Parekh reached out to him in private.

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Doshi shared the gist of what Parekh told him, which amounted to the Indian techie expressing regret.

“Asking this as genuine advice since I do really love what I do, have I completely sabotaged my career? What can I do to improve my situation? I am also happy to come clean," Parekh apparently told Doshi.