A Female-Led Entrepreneurial Project for Language Education
An Innovative Startup Thinking Big with the Little Ones
“Ten years from now, I imagine Labsitters becoming not only a national reality, but a project expanding into other European countries — and even beyond Europe — perhaps even a virtual platform… who knows.”
These are the ambitious development scenarios envisioned by Giulia Fantacci, CEO & Founder of Labsitters. Twenty-seven years old, she holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Florence and another degree in International Management from the University of Bologna. Today, she is an entrepreneur.
From Passion to Startup Creation
From a very young age, Giulia cultivated a passion for working with children, initially organizing themed workshops. Having American roots, she naturally chose to use the English language.
During gardening workshops, cooking classes, cultural outings, recycling activities, and treasure hunts, she observed that children achieved remarkable results in learning English simply by playing. She gradually developed an experiential learning method — an empirical approach based on intuition and observation — rooted in the idea that a language is learned more easily through conversation.
The method was highly successful. Just two weeks after graduating with a thesis titled “Startup and Digital Marketing: the Labsitters Case Study,” Giulia launched her innovative startup and began her entrepreneurial journey.
She recalls the early stages as both exciting and extremely demanding. Building a team and finding motivated partners was the first step. At the same time, managing the launch of a business across all areas — human resources, administration, marketing, training, refining the method, and developing materials — required strong commitment and determination.
Today, Labsitters is made up of a close-knit team of native-speaking young women who offer a method that allows children to learn languages quickly while having fun.
The Labsitters Community: People at the Center
“Tonight, 25 Labsitters girls are having dinner at my house,” Giulia shares.
Being a Labsitter means belonging to a community — spending time together beyond the professional relationship. As many of the girls are international, it is also a way to integrate and build new connections. Monthly gatherings are organized to strengthen bonds.
Attention to people lies at the core of the group. It is a fundamental strength in building trust and creating a positive work environment.
The Hubble Experience
The encounter with Hubble — the acceleration program Giulia participated in — marked a turning point in Labsitters’ growth. The program is funded by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and promoted by the Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione together with Nana Bianca.
“Joining Hubble meant feeling part of something bigger, connecting with other startups facing similar challenges, working in environments surrounded by highly experienced people available to support us, receiving training, acquiring new skills, attending trade fairs, having a workspace, promoting our business — and not feeling alone.”
Through Hubble, Labsitters also began its new “digital” journey by developing an online platform. Beyond being a communication tool, the portal serves as a management system for recruitment and internal organization. It is an interactive platform where parents can directly book the experiences they are interested in online.
The Future of Labsitters
Today, demand for language learning is increasingly strong. A group of students from the Online Business Tools course at the University of Florence is currently conducting market research on Italian cities for a potential expansion of the Labsitters project, which is currently active in Florence and Milan.
“I imagine that in the future Labsitters could also focus on teaching multiple languages,” Giulia concludes — and we all wish Labsitters the very best of luck.
Information
LABSITTERS: https://www.labsitters.com
HUBBLE: http://hubble.nanabianca.it/
Cover photo: Giulia Fantacci, CEO of Labsitters, and Micaela Surchi, Hubble Tutor at Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione.
Following photos: the Labsitters team.
