What Trade School Go does

Trade School Go, Inc. operates an AI-powered web platform that connects prospective students with accredited trade and vocational training programs across the United States. The platform aggregates data from official sources (BLS OEWS, IPEDS, College Scorecard, O*NET, and state licensing boards) covering 71 trades across 21 categories and thousands of accredited programs in all 50 states, presenting the information through a Career Quiz (12 questions, ~2 minutes), a Trade Explorer, a Program Finder and School Directory, side-by-side Program and School Comparators, a Salary Calculator, a Licensing Hub, and educational guides on accreditation, financing, and trade-school-vs-college decision-making. AI is layered into the product via a disclosed chatbot/virtual assistant, personalized content and program ranking, recommendation logic, and review moderation.

The company monetizes on a B2B basis through lead-referral fees and advertising/promoted placement paid by partner trade schools; the consumer side is free for students. Trade School Go is the rebranded identity of Tapinator, Inc. (formerly ticker TAPM), which repositioned itself from mobile gaming into vocational education technology and adopted the ticker TSGO effective March 27, 2026. The company is publicly traded, headquartered in New York City (1776 Broadway, Suite 2002), and positions itself as a student-first, transparent intermediary that discloses sponsor relationships — a deliberate contrast to opaque for-profit lead aggregators in the sector.

Name

Trade School Go

Legal name

Trade School Go, Inc.

Website

https://tradeschoolgo.com

Company type

Public

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Trade School Go is a publicly-traded, AI-powered discovery platform that connects prospective students with accredited U.S. trade and vocational training programs across 71 trades, monetizing via referral fees and advertising from partner schools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

West New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Lead Generation / Referral Fees: Trade School Go generates revenue by connecting prospective students with partner trade schools. When a user submits an information request form for a specific school, Trade School Go shares the user's personal identifying information (name, phone, email, address, program interest) with that school or its designated enrollment agent. The company is compensated by schools (or their agents) for these qualified leads. The platform explicitly discloses that schools listed on the site are advertising partners and that referral fees may be received from partner schools.
2. Advertising / Promoted Placement: Partner schools pay for featured or promoted placement within the platform's search results and program listings, generating advertising revenue tied to school visibility and inquiry volume.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Trade School Go operates an AI-driven platform that connects prospective students with accredited trade and vocational training programs in the United States. The company aggregates accredited school listings and program data, then uses AI to match students to programs based on career interests and preferences. Revenue is generated by referring qualified student inquiries to partner schools and by selling advertising placements to schools; the platform itself is free for students.

Product overview

Trade School Go is an AI-powered vocational education discovery platform that connects aspiring students with accredited trade schools and training programs. The platform operates as a unified web-based service featuring multiple integrated tools: a Career Quiz for personalized trade matching, Trade Explorer for browsing 71 careers across 21 categories, Program Finder and School Directory for discovering accredited options, Program and School Comparators for side-by-side evaluation, a Salary Calculator for earnings projections, a Licensing Hub for state-specific requirements, and educational guides covering accreditation, financial aid, and career paths. The platform also incorporates AI-powered features including a chatbot/virtual assistant, personalized recommendations, content summarization, and safety monitoring. Trade School Go is not itself an educational institution but serves as an intermediary platform connecting students with partner schools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Career Quiz

Quantifiable outcome

• Median salaries range from $35K (Cosmetologist) to $100K+ (Dental Hygienist, Commercial Pilot), with most in-demand trades (Electrician $71K, HVAC $60K, Plumber $63K) offering above-average median wages
• +3 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature6 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Trade-Schools.net: Trade-Schools.net is an established trade-school directory and lead-generation site with a comparable affiliate/referral-fee revenue model — a direct, head-to-head competitor for partner-school marketing spend and SEO traffic in trade-school queries.
• Apprenticeship.gov: The US Department of Labor's official apprenticeship finder is a free government alternative that competes directly with Trade School Go's program-discovery and licensing-hub offerings, particularly for registered apprenticeship pathways.
• SkillPointe: SkillPointe is a non-profit career-discovery platform that helps job seekers explore skilled-trade careers and find local training programs — a direct head-to-head competitor to Trade School Go's trade-explorer and program-finder core offering.

Emerging players

• Coursera: Coursera operates a large online-learning marketplace with career-academy and professional-certificate content that overlaps with Trade School Go's audience of adult career-changers and learners weighing skill-based pathways over traditional degrees.
• Handshake: Handshake is a career-platform network for college students and recent graduates that connects users to jobs, internships, and employer recruiting — overlapping with Trade School Go on the prospective-student audience but focused on traditional college pipelines.

Broad incumbents

• ZipRecruiter: ZipRecruiter is a major job marketplace that has expanded into skills-based hiring and trades workforce content, competing for both the partner-school marketing budget and the prospective-student/job-seeker audience.
• Indeed: Indeed operates the world's largest job-search platform and increasingly surfaces career-exploration, salary, and training-program content — a much larger incumbent whose career-discovery surfaces compete with Trade School Go for student attention and partner-school marketing budgets.
• Niche: Niche is a K-12 and college search-and-comparison platform with school directories, reviews, and outcome data. While focused on traditional K-12 and 4-year colleges, it overlaps with Trade School Go's program-comparison and accreditation-transparency value proposition.
• LinkedIn Learning: LinkedIn's learning and career-exploration products offer skill assessments, course catalogs, and career-pathway content that compete with Trade School Go's career-quiz and trade-profile offerings, particularly for adult career-changers and professionals.

Others

• CareerOneStop: CareerOneStop is a US Department of Labor-sponsored career-exploration and training-finder site that overlaps directly with Trade School Go's salary calculator, licensing hub, and program search — a free government resource that constrains pricing power.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Trade School Go