I'm not aware of any mainstream economic theory that describes a limited network in which everyone is both a customer and a trader.
(I suspect 'hamsters on wheels' comes closest, but it's not very mainstream.)
I think of YC as the modern equivalent of the old music business model: money gets advanced to potential talent, most of it disappears, some of it returns as a big hit.
The fact that the talent may be trading with other talent doesn't appear to alter that dynamic, because the money stays in the system, and you don't get a big hit until money starts coming in from outside the system.
I probably didn't make my point very clearly. I'm thinking of groups of companies like Virgin (I'm not sure if it's properly considered a "syndicate").
I doubt any of the companies are formally bound to do business with any other by virtue of being in the Virgin group, but it would make sense that the companies enjoy some kind of (if only informal) "preferred vendor" relation with each other.
There's no need to describe it in theory as anything else than a number of independent companies, only with common ownership and perhaps a slightly above average interconnectedness.
Branson owns Virgin Management who are the central VC/Management corp. He has varying stakes in the other companies which vary from outright ownership, majority holding, minority holding, to brand licensing deals with occasional informal management input but no shareholding.
Bottom line is the different businesses are independent. Branson probably gets perks like free travel, and maybe some of the Virgin execs do. But I'm not aware of any loose internal market or preferred vendor relationship.
I'm trying and failing to think of an example of the model you're suggesting. (Which doesn't mean there isn't one - just that I'm not familiar with it. Maybe the recent Apple/IBM deal?)
It's an interesting model, but I'm not sure how well it works when customers can also be potential competitors. AFAIK syndication traditionally works better when relationships are distant and there's no immediate danger of competition.
(I suspect 'hamsters on wheels' comes closest, but it's not very mainstream.)
I think of YC as the modern equivalent of the old music business model: money gets advanced to potential talent, most of it disappears, some of it returns as a big hit.
The fact that the talent may be trading with other talent doesn't appear to alter that dynamic, because the money stays in the system, and you don't get a big hit until money starts coming in from outside the system.