I had a 10 a.m. interview to become an Apli “partner,” the hip new word for “employee.” The meeting would take place on Campeche Street, inside an Art Deco mansion in the hypergentrified Colonia Condesa neighborhood.

A security guard inspected my ID at the entrance. He directed me toward the reception desk, where a woman gave me precise directions to the Apli office: “After climbing the stairs, turn left and go through the door that is open.” The detail was necessary because many small enterprises have offices inside this renovated house: the Numa Startup Mansion, the first of many co-working spaces contributing to rising rents in Mexico City’s previously deteriorated central neighborhoods.

After entering the small office, a young lady handed me some papers and repeated the same phrase I would hear her say to every prospective partner: “this is your contract. It says that you are not our employee and we are not your employers. We don’t have any direct liability to you.”