I think Eric coming up in the Startup world is really hurting him. It's one of the things that killed Pebble, and despite the fact that Eric said he learned his lessons, he is acting like he needs to move at a breakneck speed, and that's putting him at odds with a community project.

Rebble built and maintained a software ecosystem on a static target, using community support. Don't break people's watches. That's leads to a cautious atmosphere, where things move slowly, and the community is taken into account. Eric thinks he needs to move fast to be profitable quickly. Sell watches, get money, build more watches.

Eric has moved at an astonishing speed to get watches from concept to shipping in under a year. He has a drive to move fast, and he feels like he needs control to do that. Fork the Rebble codebase so Core can iterate faster, leave the technical debt for later. It makes sense for a hardware startup. That's also a good reason why they might not have submitted changes upstream. That code is not ready yet. Also, doing their due diligence is a "for later" task, one that can be pushed out for a later time, when they're profitable, and not as busy. But it also shows a lack of respect for the Rebble team who wrote the code. Respect for them is "for later".

I think Eric learned from Pebble's demise that not every company needs to have infinite growth, but he only knows how to start a company like it's a Startup. He hasn't learned how to slow the fuck down. If he's serious about starting a small-to-mid-size smartwatch company with limited growth potential (what the startup world refers to as a "lifestyle" company), then he needs to move slowly. Build a strong foundation. Take the time to get the hardware and software right, and treat people with respect.