Five things I learned from day one of Le Web 11

1. All that’s old is new again

Publishers that are working with Flipboard for special content sections are able to sell their adverts in that app at about the rates they were able to in print, according to Mike McCue, CEO of Flipboard. New distribution channels = new opportunities for revenue

2. New teams work in new ways

Joanna Shields, VP & Marketing Director EMEA, Facebook talked about how virtual teams are able to work together in the company internationally, but using social tools to keep themselves better connected than they would be if they were sat next to each other. Zuckerberg has a Friday open mic where staff anywhere in the world can ask him questions. Our workstyles are changing fundamentally.

3. The one thing more useful than data is MORE data

Foursquare is starting to use that vast database of checkins it has built up through Mayorships and points and badges to build a recommendation engine, and that’s what their Explore product is. Build a fun product to capture data, and then build a new product on top of that data… And that data, because it’s crowd-sourced and up-to-date, is being used as a default location API by many other companies – could they also be pushing data back in to add to the value of the data? Liveblog here.

4. The dark times are what makes you

Kevin Systrom, CEO, Instagram pointed out that many startups go wrong because they don’t have enough problems to focus their minds. Their pivot allowed them to figure out exactly what they were. (Want to know the story of Instragram’s pivot?)

5. Small teams can overturn conventional wisdom – with enough money

The final presentation of the day, from George Whitesides, CEO, Virgin Galactic, pointed the way to overturning the assumption that things that are the preserve of the big – be it business or, in this case, government, can be overturned by a small, innovative team – as long as that team has enough money. Liveblog here.