I empathize for the co-founder who was CTO and became CEO. I imagine some of the challenges come from the fact that there was a big chunk of equity owned by the original founding CEO. As the remaining co-founder, I can imagine feeling like I was climbing a grueling uphill battle to just get back to the most recent $300 million (!) valuation and a large amount of the upside of that battle was going to someone who abandoned me/the team. That said, I'm not privy to any equity adjustment that happened after the original founding CEO left.

That said, the after-the-fact communication feels lacking. It sounds like your CEO could have at least explained things in more detail after the fact (ie. Why he felt a pivot would be necessary to get to where the business needed to go.)

Such is life, I guess. I'm wishing you and the team the best for the future!