Underlying the exodus of several GitHub executives over the past few months has been a key strategic debate: whether the company should focus on the needs of its millions of users or a small group of companies that write big checks, say several people with knowledge of GitHub’s inner workings.

It’s a debate with echoes in the struggles of companies like Dropbox, Evernote and Square to straddle both the consumer and enterprise worlds. In this case, after a three-year enterprise effort, GitHub’s leaders decided last fall to refocus on winning the “hearts and minds” of its individual users by revamping its core product, the people said.