I don't disagree with your central point (most startups fail). But my personal opinion is that it is the epitomy of unprofessionalism to "go on sabbatical" when you are the CEO and your company is literally melting down around you.

At his point it the decision should come down to "how do I right this ship?" or "should I turn over the helm?" not "should I go to Maui, Tahoe or both?" His responses show such an unbelievable detachment from the investment made in the company, the employees, the technology and anything else that's going on around him.

"I do this historically. I take off for a little while and I vacation. It’s nothing new or exciting."

Imagine the CEO of any company, after having some disasterous lauches and really really struggling to find a direction and needing somebody at the helm more than ever, just up and disappearing for a couple of months, nobody really knows exactly where he is or how to get ahold of him. Banging around Monte Carlo or the Maldives or the Alps. And when somebody finally gets ahold of him to find out his opinion on why the dev team up and left, why the product and company are failing and what he's going to do to fix things comes back with this pile of nonsense.

"I feel bad about it, I can see why people would leave, you know with everything we've ever done being a giant failure and then with me up and disappearing for who knows how long, if I was back at the office I'd probably pivot, maybe, but I'm not there, maybe I'll feel like figuring something to do with the money we have left in the bank when I finish parasailing, maybe whatever, it's not like I don't have a habit of just up and disappearing like this, the board knows this about me. We'll chat when I get back from Snowboarding in the Alps."

Most startups fail for a variety of reasons, lack of experience, funding, mistargeting the market, etc. Most startups don't fail because the CEO took his money and ran off to a tropical paradise "to vacation" while the house was on fire.

Most startups that fail don't materialize out of thin air, raise $40M, and fail within a year and a half. I think it's impossible to be too harsh on anybody involved with Color.

Harsh? Taking a CEO paycheck and disappearing for two months while your company crumbles, while maintianing an attitude of "So what? The rest of the team needs to show up for work but I'm special and need a two month sabbatical"... borders on embezzlement.