I second JonR's concern. This seems like a great idea that's heavily dependent on having a healthy company culture, and that's a major, major dependency.

I think you could solve a lot of the growth problem in companies by simply adjusting the compensation structure for technical staff. Salary caps are a major problem; a great engineer will just get more valuable over time, and it's ridiculous to put him in a position where the only way to earn more money is to move into a completely different role.