Shopify helps customers build online shops, but it’s minting tech founders and investors, too Last month, Jean-Michel Lemieux, the chief technology officer of Shopify, and the company’s chief talent officer, Brittany Forsyth, both announced that they are stepping down from their roles. Chief legal officer Joe Frasca is also set to step down, with all three ending their tenures next month. In their next chapters, all seem keen to advise, invest in or even launch startups, joining a growing number of former Shopify executives and employees to do the same. For an enterprise of Shopify’s size — the 15-year-old, 7,000-person, Ottawa-based outfit boasts a $130 billion market cap — that’s not a surprise. Still, because of the vast wealth that Shopify has helped create, and its focus on sustainability — among other things it invests $5 million per year in startups that fight climate change and publishes annual sustainability reports — its former employees look to have an impact on the Canadian entrepreneurial ecosystem like no company before it.