If you believed remote work was solely about flexibility and trust, the story of Soham Parekh might alter that perception. The Mumbai-born engineer once celebrated as a “10x” productivity star, has unexpectedly become a symbol of Silicon Valley’s moonlighting crisis.
For several months, Parekh balanced multiple full-time roles at leading Y Combinator-backed startups, each believing he was their only key contributor until the truth was revealed.
When one engineer became a meme
The first domino fell when Playground AI founder Suhail Doshi sounded the alarm on X (formerly Twitter):
The post exploded overnight, sparking a digital wildfire of memes, jokes, and hot takes. Soon, founders from Dynamo AI, Lindy, Antimetal, and more stepped forward with eerily similar stories: they had all hired Parekh, only to discover he was moonlighting across the Valley, his resume a patchwork of half-truths and unverifiable claims.
“No one likes to work 140 hours a week”
Parekh described himself as a “serial non-sleeper,” working up to 140 hours weekly. He denied using AI tools or junior developers, asserting all code was his. He began moonlighting in 2022, before AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot became widely available.
Cornered by mounting evidence, Parekh finally broke his silence on the tech podcast TBPN. He didn’t deny the allegations. Instead, he offered a sobering explanation: “It is true,” he admitted. “I’m not proud of what I’ve done. But, you know, financial circumstances, essentially. No one likes to work 140 hours a week, right? But I had to do this out of necessity. I was in extremely dire financial circumstances.”
He was quick to push back against the wildest rumours. No, he hadn’t outsourced his work to a secret army of junior coders. No, he wasn’t using AI to automate his output. “I wrote every inch of code,” he insisted, painting a picture of a lone engineer burning the candle at both ends — and then some.
Smoke, mirrors, and multiple paychecks
As the story unfolded, a clearer picture emerged of how Parekh managed to keep so many balls in the air at once. At his peak, he was reportedly earning between $30,000 and $40,000 a month, all while maintaining the illusion of exclusivity with each employer.
He went so far as to convince companies he was based in the US, even arranging for laptops to be shipped to a stateside address — allegedly his “sister’s.”
Some founders accused him of padding his resume with fake credentials, though Parekh maintains he did the work himself.
The fallout and industry reckoning
The response from Silicon Valley was swift and intense. On one side, founders were furious at the deception, sharing screenshots of emotional manipulation and stories of missed deadlines. On the other hand, the internet crowned Parekh the “CEO of Multitasking,” with even LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman joining in on the meme-fest. The incident sparked a sector-wide debate about the ethics of remote work, the pressures of startup culture, and the gaping holes in distributed team oversight.
Multiple founders admitted that Parekh “crushed interviews” and ranked among the top percentile of candidates in terms of technical skills. Conor Brennan-Burke, founder of HyperSpell, publicly offered Parekh a second chance, believing “he’s definitely learned his lesson.” The scandal triggered widespread debates about moonlighting ethics, remote work oversight, and hiring practices.
So, what should Silicon Valley take away from Soham Parekh drama?
Despite the uproar, Parekh’s story didn’t end with a blocklist. Instead, he landed on his feet as the founding engineer at Darwin Studios, an AI-driven video platform. “This is the only thing I’m going to focus on now,” he told TBPN. “They’ve bet on me, and I intend to prove them right.”
“At Darwin, we are solely focused on building the most innovative software products for both brands and content creators. Soham is an incredibly talented engineer and we believe in his abilities to help bring our products to market,” said Sanjit Juneja, Founder and CEO of Darwin, exclusively to TFN.
Parekh’s story serves as a stark reminder to an industry fixated on speed, hustle, and the myth of the “10x engineer.” As startups rush to tighten their hiring processes and reconsider remote work policies, one lesson becomes clear: in the era of distributed teams, trust is the most precious currency.
