CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma to employees: Paytm never had anything easy

Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma told employees in a town hall that they need not read too much into the criticism of its business model after its shares crashed on listing last week, and that the company in its history has never had anything easy up front.
The company’s focus on market expansion and the ability of the team to execute the plan will decide the outcome of the company more than anything else, Sharma said in what was a four-hour call on Friday, according to people aware of it. As a publicly listed firm, Paytm has to respect all its shareholders, including retail investors, he said.
Many retail investors who picked shares in One97 Communications, which owns the Paytm platform, are believed to be users of its services.