I hired Soham Parekh (but you all fell for his media stunt)

A story on dishonesty, and the hilariousness of tech becoming Idiocracy

The actual story of working with Soham Parekh is far more underwhelming than you all have made it out to be. He’s neither a genius (his work quality and output were subpar at best) nor Robin Hood (he essentially conned multiple companies, including ours). In the process, he’s destroyed his career.

He passed our interviews, including our in-person interview in San Francisco. He had glowing references from other industry professionals in our network. As far as I know, most of his resume wasn’t actually fabricated. He passed both KYC for our EOR and our own background checks with Checkr.

This is no Catch Me If You Can story. This is the story of a technically able engineer who decided to pull a fast one on a bunch of companies. Probably ego, probably needed the money, probably both.

A disappointing industry: tech has become Idiocracy

The most disappointing thing isn’t that an engineer, bordering on sociopathic, decided to nuke his career for a stunt. He abused the confidence and trust we put in him. He also destroyed his prospects of coming to the US (we spent resources trying to sponsor him for an O-1 visa). I’ve learned to be selective about trust, and I’m simply not as disappointed in the situation.

In fact, we laughed about it as a team. He never had access to production systems and worked primarily on an ancillary project. We were just about to let him go after a bit working with us because his performance and quality of work were simply so bad. While he has garnered an apparent following over this stunt, and apparently secured offers from companies willing to destroy the due diligence process in their next funding round, I’m not surprised. Ultimately, he’s done more harm to himself than to us. It’s ridiculous. It’s silly.

The disappointment comes from the industry’s reaction. While I employed him for 3 months, and just terminated him, you have all fallen for his stunt. Podcasts giving him a platform for victimhood, tech people on X claiming he’s a Robin Hood, wishing him well.

Let me tell you my opinion straight up: you have all become a circus. You’re simply not serious operators. You now glorify con artists and the grift. You’ve blurred the lines between hustling and fraud. You’ve placed your priorities on a 20-something-year-old who, in his emotional immaturity, has made sure he’ll never hold a serious job for the rest of his career.

For the last year, I’ve noticed a shift in tech culture. The loss of morality. The loss of values. Incubators now openly encouraging their founders to bend the truth for a quick buck. Rounds being raised on fake logos. Engineers now being glorified for lying to multiple companies at the same time.

You simply are not serious people.

Who I am and what I’m made of

I told my wife 2 days ago that I was thinking of quitting “tech” after bem. My morals are simply not aligned with the rest of the industry anymore.

This has re-ignited my fire to build and ignore those who lie and cheat.

I am, however, not wavering. I will die before I allow my morals to be bent or broken. I have nothing but my word and my reputation, and I will never break either of them.

I believe in long-term value, beyond the fads and the hype, and I will continue working until the day I die to earn the trust of real customers, real people, and real businesses who use my products and services. I don’t lie, I don’t cheat. I just work.

And to all of you who enjoy this kind of stunt: we simply live in different worlds, and I no longer want to be part of yours.