‘Not Proud Of It': Indian Techie Admits To Moonlighting At Multiple US Startups Amid Financial Struggles
The row over Indian techie Soham Parekh, accused of moonlighting—the practice of working at multiple companies at the same time—has created chatter online. The controversy has also raised questions about remote hiring practices and the role of background checks. The tech professional has broken his silence on the matter, confessing to misleading companies about his location and employment status. Parekh also admitted to holding multiple job positions at once.
Speaking on a TBPN show, Parekh explained that his decision to moonlight was due to financial problems. One of the interviewers asked, 'So an average day… an average week for you feels like basically you sleep for 6 to 8 hours, and you're programming for 12 to 14 hours every single day for seven days a week," while another asked if he used AI to crack coding and take more jobs. To these, Parekh explained that while AI did help him, it was not for finding more jobs. He also revealed not having a fixed schedule at each company.
'I think people around me will probably say this: that I am notoriously known for not sleeping. I am a… You know… I am a serial-like non-sleeper at this point, I would say," he said, as quoted by the Hindustan Times.
Elsewhere in the interview, the techie also spoke about not being very proud of his actions. 'I'm not proud of what I've done. That's not something I endorse either. But no one likes to work 140 hours a week; I had to do it out of necessity. I was in extremely dire financial circumstances," he said.
Parekh shared that he is not a very people person, preferring to be himself most of the time. 'So I just thought: if I work multiple places, maybe I can elevate myself out of the situation faster," he continued. In what seems to be his first interview after the controversy, Parekh emphasised that he was a good enough engineer to be able to work at three places.
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.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.
— Suhail (@Suhail) July 2, 2025
Before this, the overall scam came to light after Mixpanel co-founder Suhail Doshi shared a detailed post on X, exposing the tech professional's activities. '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. 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," Suhail wrote on X.
Amid the ongoing debate, Soham Parekh has also revealed details about his new job with Darwin Studios.
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