I will never again work in a company with a dual CEO/CTO. No matter how well-intentioned and talented that person is, it always leads to a toxic environment. It's an instant red flag that the person is incapable of delegating responsibilities. Separation of duties at the C-level is important. There needs to be some amount of healthy friction in the leadership team to make appropriate compromises. Hope you are able to get out of this situation soon.

> I work in a fear-based culture right now

That sucks. I have been there. Awful. For me, the silver lining is that I no longer ignore stinky red flags

Yeah, I think it can be painfully helpful to go through that miserable experience at least once. But my very strong advice to others:

Do NOT put up with that.

You don't have to. There are so many companies, even now, where you can get decent work with much more sensible norms.

There's always kind of a gravitational pull toward excess debt because "get the [fix/feature] out there in front of [users/client/exec]" is such a tempting drug for management, even if they're generally good. But the amount and toxicity of the debt varies widely. Find a company that's sane about this if you value your own sanity imo.

Thank you for the support! Doing my best, and leaving when the right opportunity appears.

Yep, same, and it hurts the most loyal and hardworking the most. Do what's best for yourself and find a better job.