“I’m not proud of what I’ve done. That’s not something I endorse either,” Parekh told tech show TBPN in an interview aired just a day after multiple founders accused him of scamming their startups. “But no one really likes to work 140 hours a week. I had to do it out of necessity. I was in extremely dire financial circumstances.”
We asked @realsohamparekh if he had been working multiple full-time jobs at once.
“It is true.”“I’m not proud of what I’ve done. That’s not something I endorse either. But no one really likes to work 140 hours a week, I had to do it out of necessity.”
“I was in extremely dire… pic.twitter.com/IC3qXOPdSt
— TBPN (@tbpn) July 3, 2025
Hours before the interview aired, Parekh posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter), breaking his silence and acknowledging the storm he’d found himself in.
“There’s a lot being said about me right now, and most of you don’t know the full story,” he wrote. “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. But building is the only thing I’ve ever truly known, and it’s what I’ll keep doing.”
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
Parekh revealed he has signed an exclusive founding engineer deal with Darwin, an AI video remixing startup. “They were the only ones willing to bet on me at this time,” he said. “We’re launching at the end of this month.”
Darwin’s founder confirmed the hire to The Verge.
On July 2, Suhail Doshi, founder of AI design platform Playground, posted a viral PSA accusing Parekh of simultaneously working at three to four startups. “He’s been preying on YC companies and more. Beware,” Doshi wrote. “I fired this guy in his first week and told him to stop lying/scamming people. He hasn’t stopped a year later.”
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
The tweet sparked a flurry of replies from other founders and hiring managers who said they had similar experiences.
Ben South, founder of Variant, told The Verge that Parekh had created “5–6 profiles each with 5+ companies he worked at.” South said his team flagged inconsistencies early and dropped Parekh after reference checks confirmed the moonlighting.
Others, like Digger CEO Igor Zalutski and AIVideo.com cofounder Justin Harvey, said they came close to hiring Parekh because of his strong technical interviews. “He actually crushed the interview,” Harvey said. Vapi cofounder Jordan Dearsley noted, “Best technical interview I’ve seen — but he didn’t deliver on his projects.”
Parekh also reportedly worked briefly at Meta in 2021. In a company blog post, he was credited for contributing to WebXR mixed-reality experiences. At the time, he had said, “The best way to get better at software development is to not only practice it but to use it to solve real world problems.”
In the TBPN interview, Parekh admitted to what he called “a pattern of survival.” He said the decision to take on multiple roles came from desperation, not deception — though he stopped short of apologizing to the companies involved.
With Darwin now backing him, Parekh says he’s focused on building something that matters. “I’m pissed. And I’ve got something to prove,” he wrote on X. “The team is cracked, they back misfits, and they’re building something absolutely insane in the video AI space.”
The startup is expected to launch publicly later this month.
