Congratulations on reaching your conclusion amicably. I too find the discussion fascinating.
Brings back memories from a capital starved start-up I was working in 7 or 8 years ago, in an admittedly more junior position than COO. I had opportunity to schedule a day trip from a regional east coast outstation to NYC (LGA) for a 2 hour client meeting. On a Friday. In the summertime. You can all see where this is headed.
Long story short, the meeting ended early and we arrived back at LGA maybe an hour (tops) before we planned. I think we were booked to fly home at approximately 5PM. There was an opportunity to get home on a 4PM flight, but it involved travel on a different airline then ticketed. The 2 very senior executives I was traveling with, on the spot forked over $400 each for full Y tickets for the approximately 1 hour 1 way RJ return. The justification was they would now be home in time for dinner with their families. The value of the original tickets would effectively be wiped out by change / cnxl fees, and IIRC were probably booked last minute anyway so fairly expensive. Of course, as we were traveling together they bought me a seat as well, I suppose as a professional courtesy.
As luck would have it, typical Friday LGA delays in the summertime meant that no one made it home in time for dinner that night as anticipated after all. And the lack of fiscal discipline as displayed by these very senior founding executives foreshadowed the organization running out of cash less than one year later. The conclusions are academic, and as I look back and reflect on this memorable lesson, it was pretty clear from that moment forward we weren't going to make it.
The fact that your team is in a different place, and you've created a culture where a pace setting executive can pause to think through the implications of any decision before carefully and deliberately proceeding reflect positively on your organizations prospects for future success. Enjoy your trip in C it sounds like you've earned it.