IN terms of personality, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of digital payments start-up Paytm, and Byju Raveendran, co-founder of edtech start-up BYJU’S, could not be more different. Sharma, 45, is outgoing and aggressive, and wears his emotions on his sleeve, be it in office or outside. Raveendran, 44, on the other hand, is said to be shy and somewhat of an introvert, a man of few words, except when he gets down to doing what he loves the most—teaching.
However, there is plenty the two have in common, too. Both grew up in small towns, went to local schools and learnt English on the fly—one by memorising rock music lyrics and the other by listening to cricket commentary. From humble beginnings, both built formidable companies that rapidly became unicorns and they the…
