Sounds like an online version of BNI (http://www.bni.com/). Would it work on a completely altruistic basis though? With BNI you at least get some real world networking at the meetings.
Orignally I thought of this, having it as an online referral based system, but it wasn't going to work. Referrals of clients is too time consuming and requires large amounts of trust before sending clients over to someone.
I went down the path of thinking of each relationship as a joint venture.
Yeah, BNI seems similar in idea, but I had my eyes on small, new companies in particular, as they have the most to gain from small-scale, inidvidual referrals. The larger ones tend to do marketing, or they already have a reputation, so it's easier for them to find new clients.
I went down the path of thinking of each relationship as a joint venture.