The Alchemist Code“Nearshore” means hiring a software team in a nearby country instead of across the world. For US companies, Mexico is the most natural option: same continent, overlapping hours and a short flight. But the word gets used for everything from a single freelancer to a 500-person outsourcing firm.
This guide covers what actually changes when a US company works with a team in Mexico, and the questions that separate a reliable partner from a risky one. We are a founder-led studio in Puebla, Mexico, so we will use our own setup as a concrete example.
Time zones: how much do the hours overlap?
Most of central Mexico, including Puebla and Mexico City, stays on UTC−6 all year. Mexico stopped observing daylight saving time in most of the country in 2022. In practice:
| Your office | Winter | Summer |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago (Central) | Same time | Mexico is 1 hour behind |
| New York (Eastern) | Mexico is 1 hour behind | Mexico is 2 hours behind |
| Los Angeles (Pacific) | Mexico is 2 hours ahead | Mexico is 1 hour ahead |
That means standups, design reviews and same-day bug fixes happen during your normal working day, not at midnight.
Language and communication
Ask who you will actually talk to. In large firms, a sales lead and an account manager often sit between you and the engineers. In a founder-led studio, the person writing or reviewing the code is usually on the call.
Good signs:
- You talk to the technical lead in English, without a translator.
- Written updates are short and concrete: what shipped, what is blocked, what is next.
- You get builds you can install and test, not just status reports.
Contracts and intellectual property
This is where many first-time nearshore projects go wrong. Your agreement should state, in writing:
- Full assignment of IP for the code, designs and documentation to your company.
- Repositories under your account (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) from day one, or at least at every milestone.
- App Store, Google Play, cloud and domain accounts in your company’s name.
- An NDA signed before you share business details.
- Which law governs the contract and how disputes are resolved.
Have your own lawyer review the contract. A reliable partner will not push back on any of the points above.
Payments, invoices and tax forms
- Currency: contracts and invoices can be in US dollars, paid by wire or card. Ask about fees on both sides.
- Tax forms: a foreign contractor typically gives you a W-8BEN (individuals) or W-8BEN-E (entities) instead of a W-9. Your accountant will tell you what you need.
- Mexican invoices (CFDI): if your company also has a Mexican entity, your vendor can issue a CFDI, the electronic invoice required by Mexico’s tax authority.
Engagement models
| Model | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed-scope project | A defined MVP or feature set | Change requests billed without prior agreement |
| Dedicated team (monthly) | A product that evolves every week | Paying for hours without visible output |
| Maintenance retainer | An app already in production | Response times that aren’t written into the contract |
How to vet a nearshore partner
- Ask for software in production. Store listings and live systems show update dates, ratings and reviews that nobody can fake.
- Talk to the person who will lead your project, not only to sales.
- Ask how they handle the first two weeks. You should see a plan, screens and a first build quickly.
- Check what happens after launch. Apple and Google raise their requirements every year; an app nobody maintains stops working well on new phones.
- Start small. A short paid discovery or a first milestone tells you more than any sales deck.
What working with us looks like
- Location: Puebla, Mexico, on UTC−6 year-round.
- Track record you can check: 17 apps of our own in the stores, including Soccer24 with 75,685 Google Play installs and a public 4.5★ rating, and Komodo VPN running on our own server network.
- Research: a 2025 Springer Nature chapter on AI-driven phishing fraud detection.
- Terms: contracts in USD, NDA before details, full IP assignment, and builds on TestFlight and Google Play internal testing throughout the project.
The first call and the written proposal are free. Learn more about our software development services in Mexico or our mobile app development work.