[codingdave]

There are a few things that come to mind when I read this:

1) Don't go build a competitor. That is a road where your motivation is driven by bitterness. It will come out in the work and the culture and you won't really have moved on -- you'll just be hanging on to the reasons you left and trying to prove that you were right. If you want to build something new, go for it -- but solve a different problem.

2) If the business is happy and the customers are happy and everyone other than you is happy... it might be worth trying to understand their perspective. It sounds like you are the type of coder who wants the solution to be ideal, surrounded by pragmatists that just want it to work. I find that a healthy balance is needed to truly succeed, but if you are the sole idealist, you won't be happy. So if you cannot adjust to what everyone else wants, you probably are correct to leave.

I'd recommend either looking at what other tech your customers use and seeing if any of those companies are hiring, or find a new problem in the same industry and try to solve it.

But if you choose to leave this company.... really leave it. Close the chapter, be grateful for what you got from it, and move on.