Going public brings greater accountability to investors and new challenges in balancing quarterly expectations with long-term growth, Meesho CEO Vidit Aatrey and Groww CEO Lalit Keshre said at the ET Startup Awards 2026 in Bengaluru.

Recalling Meesho’s first annual general meeting (AGM) as a public company, Aatrey said retail investors, including a retired couple, told him they had invested their life’s savings in the company.

“I'll tell you one anecdote: last month was our first AGM as a public company. There, we suddenly have a few retail investors stand up and ask questions. These are retired people, like a retired couple. They give you their blessings and say, `we’ve put the money we saved all our life into your company. Please do well with this, right?’ This is, like, a first-time experience for us,” he said, adding that it had introduced a new dimension to the company’s decision-making.

Aatrey said the company must continue to innovate while meeting the expectations of public-market investors. The need to set quarterly goals has also raised expectations within teams, making it important to balance predictability with innovation, he added.

Keshre said Groww’s working style had largely remained unchanged after its listing, with the company continuing to focus on long-term goals while executing in the short term.

“One thing that has changed for us is that our customers also became our investors. So now it's like less conflict, right? We don't have different shareholders and different customers. It's a very unique case for us,” Lalit said.