What frustrates you about Linux is exactly what drew me into FreeBSD. Have you looked into the BSDs and their development model? For example, the FreeBSD kernel and the base operating system are developed as a cohesive unit like you described.
I've been watching videos of your baby progress over the years. I love the look and guiding philosophy. You should be immensely proud of what you've accomplished. But without leveraging the existing drivers, GUI frameworks, decoders from BSD or Linux, I fail to see how it can ever be more than a toy OS. However your vision implemented on a BSD base, could be the next Solus.
The BSDs are proof of what I'm saying. Sure the base OS is developed and released together. Meanwhile the stuff in the ports tree (the programs users actually want to run) is very similar to every common Linux distribution.
Also FreeBSD in particular has several Linux compatibility APIs and shares drivers with Linux whenever it's possible. As a founder it's tempting to fantasize about building your own universe but everyone comes back to reality eventually.
I've been watching videos of your baby progress over the years. I love the look and guiding philosophy. You should be immensely proud of what you've accomplished. But without leveraging the existing drivers, GUI frameworks, decoders from BSD or Linux, I fail to see how it can ever be more than a toy OS. However your vision implemented on a BSD base, could be the next Solus.