Shopify’s new COO told employees that the sudden departure of three key executives earlier this month marked a “turning point” for the company after it had shifted too far from its “core.”

Jess Hertz, who was promoted from general counsel to COO as part of the reshuffle, made the announcement shortly after starting in her new role. In a Slack message to Shopify staff seen by The Logic, she said the firm had “parted ways” with chief revenue officer Bobby Morrison, vice-president of global partnerships Rukmani Subramanian and global head of commercial operations Ryan Longfield.

Hertz assumed the COO position after it was left vacant by Kaz Nejatian, who rose quickly through Shopify’s executive ranks before leaving to lead San Francisco-based Opendoor.

Shopify did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Longfield’s departure has not previously been reported.

Hertz announced her promotion on LinkedIn on Oct. 9 to accolades from CEO Tobi Lütke and president Harley Finkelstein. Neither Shopify nor high-ranking executives appeared to comment publicly on the departures of Morrison, Subramanian and Longfield. Morrison had represented Shopify at NetSuite’s SuiteWorld conference in Las Vegas just days before his sudden departure.

In the Slack message, Hertz said she had spent several weeks taking a deep dive into Shopify’s inner workings and found places where the firm had “drifted.”

“We’ve made it too hard for you to do your jobs,” she said. “There’s too much administrative toil, changing goal posts and a shift away from Shopify’s core.” The three departures, she said, marked “a turning point” for the firm, adding that the changes would “give us the chance to build better.”

The three executives were amongst the most senior at Shopify, a source told The Logic. Morrison and Subramanian both reported directly to Lütke, while Longfield was directly under Morrison. It’s “unheard of” at the company for three such senior staffers to leave simultaneously, the source claimed.

Morrison, who had spent about three years as CRO, announced his departure on LinkedIn; as did Subramanian. Longfield did not make a public announcement.

The October departures are part of an ongoing shakeup of the company’s leadership. Four other Shopify vice presidents, Andrea Mangini, Adrianna Burrows, Glen Coates and Arpan Podduturi, also left the company this summer, The Information reported. In October, Nejatian hired Giang LeGrice, Shopify’s vice-president of operations, to lead Opendoor’s operations.