a day ago
Who is Soham Parekh, techie behind ‘Soham-Gate' who allegedly juggled multiple startup jobs and fooled YC founders
The Internet has been buzzing with shock and disbelief after a bombshell accusation surfaced against an Indian techie, Soham Parekh, who has allegedly been juggling jobs at multiple startups simultaneously. The story erupted earlier this week when Suhail Doshi, founder of Playground AI and ex-CEO of Mixpanel, called him out on X, setting off a firestorm in tech circles.
Doshi claimed that Parekh, believed to be operating out of India, has been quietly collecting paychecks from as many as four to five startups, many of them funded by Y Combinator, at the same time. The revelation has not only raised eyebrows over hiring practices in the remote work era, but also sparked larger concerns about how easy it is to slip through the cracks in the startup world.
'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,' Doshi warned, sharing what he said was Parekh's CV–an impressive-looking document that, according to Doshi, is mostly smoke and mirrors. 'Probably 90% of it is fake,' he alleged, pointing out that many of the listed links no longer even exist.
What makes the situation even more confounding is that despite multiple red flags and formal complaints, Parekh reportedly continued to land new roles with little difficulty. In a follow-up, Doshi added, '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.'
Probably 90% fake and most links are gone.
— Suhail (@Suhail) July 2, 2025
Parekh's career path, as outlined by an AI industry executive, reflects an impressive academic and professional trajectory. He earned a Master's degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech in 2022, following a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai in 2020.
Professionally, Parekh has held a string of senior roles, mostly remote. His résumé features stints such as a Senior Software Engineer (contract) at DynamoAI starting January 2024, a Senior Fullstack Engineer at for a year before that, and similar roles at Synthesia and Alan AI. He also participated in GitHub's Open Source Fellowship during the summer of 2020.
There aren't any confirmed photos of Parekh in the public domain, but screenshots from Zoom calls—shared by frustrated employers—have surfaced online. One founder, upset by what they called misleading hiring practices, wrote: 'He lies about his location. We thought we were hiring someone in the US. Even sent a laptop to a US address. Got it back! Allegedly it was sent to his 'sister'.' This allegation, coupled with the growing conversation around remote work transparency, has sparked a fresh round of questions in the startup ecosystem—especially around international hiring at high-profile accelerators like Y Combinator.
He lies about his location. We thought we were hiring someone in the US. Even sent a laptop to a US address. Got it back! Allegedly it was sent to his 'sister.'
— Suhail (@Suhail) July 2, 2025
Founders who've interacted with Parekh echoed similar stories. Flo Crivello, founder of Lindy, tweeted, 'Fired this morning. He did so incredibly well in interviews, must have a lot of training.' Nicolai Ouporov, CEO of Fleet AI, said Parekh had worked with them too, noting 'he's been doing this for years.' Michelle Lim of Warp added that her team hired Parekh for a trial, but cancelled it immediately after learning of the accusations.
Joke aside, the real lesson from Soham is we as an industry ought to do way more public shaming
I personally know 4 people(!) who got scammed by him
We'd have gone for another month if it wasn't for @Suhail
So: I will now post publicly when I'm screwed over by someone in a way…
— Flo Crivello (@Altimor) July 2, 2025
We just signed him up for our work trial next week. Saw this tweet. Cancelled work trial. Thank you for sharing!
— Michelle Lim (@michlimlim) July 2, 2025
Suhail also wrote, 'Not a joke. This is happening real time. This is the 3rd DM today about someone firing him.' and called the entire thing as, 'Soham-gate.'
Not a joke. This is happening real time. This is the 3rd DM today about someone firing him.
soham-gate
— Suhail (@Suhail) July 2, 2025
Until now, Parekh has stayed silent publicly, but Suhail Doshi revealed that he had reached out to him in private. In a message Doshi shared, Parekh seemed remorseful and uncertain about his future, asking, 'Have I completely sabotaged my career? What can I do to improve my situation?' He also added that he was willing to 'come clean.'
Soham has reached out. His primary question:
'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'
Vox Populi, Vox Dei
— Suhail (@Suhail) July 3, 2025
An X account under the handle @realsohamparekh has surfaced, claiming to be the genuine Soham Parekh and actively commenting on the controversy.
There's a lot being said about me right now, and most of you don't know the full story.
If there's one thing to know about me, it's that I love to build.
That's it. I've been isolated, written off, and shut out by nearly everyone I've known and every company I've worked at.…
— Soham Parekh (@realsohamparekh) July 3, 2025
However, as of now, the identity behind the account–and even the real identity of Parekh himself–remains unverified.
