Indian techie Soham Parekh facing backlash over moonlighting announces he has found a full-time job
AI startup Darwin Studios
as a founding engineer, marking a new chapter after a heated controversy in Silicon Valley. The announcement follows intense criticism over Parekh's moonlighting, which he attributed to financial hardships. In his first public comments since the scandal broke, Parekh told TBPN, a U.S. technology show, 'I'm not proud of what I did.' He admitted to juggling jobs at five companies but denied employing junior developers to manage the workload, emphasizing, 'I wish I had the money.' Parekh also clarified that he began taking multiple jobs in 2022, 'before the CoPilot boom,' and did not rely on AI tools to handle his tasks.
The controversy erupted when Playground AI founder Suhail Doshi exposed Parekh on X, warning, '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.' The post, referencing startup accelerator Y Combinator, led to swift consequences: Parekh was fired from multiple roles, and recruiters flagged him as a risky hire.
Despite the backlash, Parekh has found a new opportunity with Darwin Studios, where he will help build Wayve, an AI-powered video remixing platform. Sanjit Juneja, the startup's founder, praised Parekh as a '10x engineer' with 'something even greater to prove than just his love for software.'
The scandal has reignited debates in tech circles about the ethics of moonlighting and the pressures of startup culture. Critics have labeled Parekh's actions fraudulent, while others argue the incident exposes deeper issues in the industry's demand for relentless productivity and the lack of oversight in remote work. Parekh's move to Darwin Studios signals a fresh start, but his story continues to spark discussions about trust, hustle, and accountability in the fast-paced world of tech startups.
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