I just landed back from LA, voice still gone, but there's too much good stuff to wait on.
This week: a quick download on founders forum, two meta changes that are going to affect how you spend and how you read your data, and a thank you that's been sitting with me since the event. Let's get into it.
IN THIS ISSUE 🏖️ Founders Forum LA (what it was really like) 💳 Meta's new billing change 📊 Meta changed how it counts clicks |
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FIELD REPORT
Founders Forum LA
Last week I had the chance to attend Founders Forum in Los Angeles, and honestly, it exceeded expectations in every way.
600 founders in one room. Just real conversations on a deep, founder-to-founder level. What stood out most was the energy, everyone was just trying to connect and understand what each other was building. That's rare.
I've been part of this community since it was about twenty people. Watching it grow to 600 has been something else entirely, and this event was the best version of it yet. I couldn't walk three steps without someone stopping me to say hi.
A special thank you to Sean Cushing, Shai Banover, and Harrison Gordon for coming up to talk to me about the newsletter. It genuinely means more than you know. |
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PLATFORM UPDATE
Meta is moving to monthly invoicing
If you run Meta Ads at any real scale, you may have already received the notice. Starting April 1, 2026, certain ad accounts are being required to switch away from credit card billing. Here's what you need to know.
What's changing?
Right now, Meta charges your card every time you hit a spend threshold. Under the new system, your spend accumulates throughout the month and Meta sends you a single invoice at the start of the following month. You have 30 days to pay (Net 30, same as Google Ads and TikTok).
⚠️ Received the notice? You need to act before April 1. Didn't receive it? You're likely unaffected, smaller accounts appear to be excluded. |
Why is Meta doing this?
(i) Processing fees. Meta saves an estimated 1.5-3.5% per transaction by moving high-spend accounts off credit cards. At their volume, that's a lot of money.
(ii) Platform integrity. Tying billing to verified business entities and bank accounts makes it a lot harder for bad actors to cycle through disposable cards and abuse the platform.
Your two options if affected
Option | How it works |
1. Monthly invoicing | Meta assigns a credit line. Spend accumulates. One invoice at month start. Pay within 30 days. |
2. Direct debit | Meta pulls the invoice amount directly from your bank account on the due date. |
What this actually means for your business
You lose the float. Credit cards let you spend now and pay at threshold, sometimes days later. That buffer goes away.
You lose the rewards. High-spend accounts using cashback or points cards will feel this. Factor it into your cost modeling.
You gain clarity. One invoice per month is easier to reconcile than a stream of threshold charges. If you're an agency billing clients based on ad spend, now is the time to clean up your workflow.
Watch your credit limit. If you hit it, ads pause. Set up autopay the moment you're approved. Don't let a billing gap kill a scaling campaign.
How to apply
Go to Billing & Payments in Meta Business Suite. If there's a banner at the top, you're eligible. Click “Get Started” you'll need your legal business name, address, and possibly a business document to verify. Approval can be instant if Meta can verify through public registries.
💡 Bottom line: This is an operational change, not a performance change. Get ahead of it before April 1 so you're not scrambling mid-campaign. |
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PLATFORM UPDATE
Meta changed how it counts clicks
I know, another Meta update. But this one directly affects how you've been reading your data. And honestly, most brands have been reading it wrong for a while.
The problem Meta is finally fixing
Here's the disconnect that's been driving everyone crazy: you open Meta Ads Manager, look at your click numbers, then open GA4 or Northbeam, and nothing lines up. The reason is that Meta has been counting likes, shares, and saves as "clicks" while every third-party tool only counts actual link clicks. Same word, completely different definitions.
Going forward: click-through attribution for website and in-store conversions will only count link clicks. Your billing doesn't change. Just the reporting. |
So what happens to likes, shares, and saves?
They're not gone, they're getting their own category. Meta is calling it "engage-through attribution." The thinking is that saving or sharing an ad is a meaningful signal, but it's a different kind of signal than someone clicking through to your site. It makes sense to track them separately rather than mash them together.
Cleaner buckets = better decisions.
The Reels window is shrinking, and that's a good thing
Meta is also cutting the video engaged-view window from 10 seconds down to 5. Why? Because purchase conversions tied to Reels are happening incredibly fast, within the first couple of seconds of a video playing. A 10-second window was inflating attribution. Five seconds is a more honest number.
What this means for your numbers
(i) Your reported Meta conversions will probably drop. This is not a performance problem. Your actual sales haven't changed. The reporting is just getting more accurate.
(ii) Meta is now working directly with Northbeam and Triple Whale to align attribution models. For anyone running blended or multi-touch attribution, this is a big deal: less time reconciling dashboards, more confidence in the data you're acting on.
Quick breakdown
What's changing | What it means for you |
Clicks = link clicks only | Attributed conversions will drop, not a performance issue |
Likes/shares/saves separated out | Cleaner reporting. Easier to understand what's actually driving action. |
Video window: 10s → 5s | More accurate Reels attribution. Expect numbers to shift. |
Northbeam & Triple Whale integration | Better alignment across your full measurement stack |
My take
Attribution has been a mess for years, and it's one of the main reasons founders lose trust in their data. Nine out of ten times when I audit an account and someone says "Meta isn't working" the ads are fine, it's the data story that's broken. Updates like this are genuinely good for anyone trying to run a data-driven program. When the numbers drop, don't fire your media buyer. Read the context first.
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That's all for this week, see you next Monday.
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Uri & The Growth Collective Team