The idea is good, but I doubt it'll ever pan out, especially since the creator seems to be pretty laid back about it. And yes, his business plan of 'I'll sell the alpha and then take the profits and hire more staff' is.... not going to work out the way he thinks it will.
The only things he's planning to hire people for are some tedious programming and art. It's just fine as a strategy, and it will work, but it's certainly not the best course of action, especially for something that's partially a personal project. It's a bit like completely re-doing a room yourself, but hiring people to do the walls and floor as they think would be best.
Fifteen bucks for a tech demo. Ha!
Actually, you're pre-purchasing the game, at a discounted price, and getting a demo as a bonus.
EDIT: OK, I think my biggest problem with this is that he expects people to pay for a game as soon as it's playable - not even in its alpha stage. That's just not something people do; he's taking their money in exchange for a poorly-programmed, barren world and promises of awesomeness.
There's also this: Once he's taken peoples' money, the entire project has to change. He's not just working at his own rate on a game that will satisfy him as an end-product. He is working on a game that people have already paid for, but do not yet have. It's like he's taken a loan, from people nice enough to give one but not quite nice enough to go without interest. The longer he takes to get the final product out, the more it will take to satisfy his customers.