Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anahita Dalmia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Anahita thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life as we knew it. I was in the process of founding Alterea, a company specializing in live entertainment experiences. Our philosophy was centered on the idea that in extraordinary circumstances, people could discover the extraordinary within themselves. Our experiences emphasized historic turning points, demonstrating that each person contributes to creating the collective future and has the potential to be a hero.
However, when COVID-19 struck, I found myself in a situation that shook my core belief in control. My graduation ceremony was cancelled, opportunities like exhibiting at SxSW vanished, and job prospects disappeared. It was a time of uncertainty and an overwhelming sense of helplessness. It was precisely during this moment that I realized the opportunity embedded within such challenging times.
I began to embrace the founding philosophy of my company. Even though it didn’t seem like it, our actions mattered more than ever. Whether it was the decision to wear a mask, support the Black Lives Matter movement, or any other choice, we were all making a significant difference. I understood that this was the kind of moment I had always spoken of—a moment where our individual actions would shape the collective impact we had for generations.
My primary focus became helping people regain their sense of self, empowering them to make informed decisions and be secure in the knowledge that those decisions mattered. While I had never built digital experiences before, I had experience with transmedia elements, which prepared me to tackle the root problem of our time: misinformation.
From this realization, Agents of Influence (AoI) was born. AoI is an online spy experience that capitalizes on the parallels between our lives and the lives of spies. Its mission is to equip players with the knowledge and tools to identify and combat digital misinformation, including online tools like media bias charts and skills to recognize logical fallacies.
Creating AoI was a four-month journey that required tremendous effort. We had never worked on media literacy, misinformation, educational games or even digital games. Yet, 4 months of hard work allowed us to create the first iteration of Agents of Influence, which has now become an educational videogame being used in schools across the country.
While the transition was tough and sometimes we felt disconnected from our own identity, it was a really beneficial transition for us. We ended up with a scalable product and brought in recurring revenue, while also being timely, creatively inspiring and impactful.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Anahita, the founder of Alterea, which I established in 2020 during my senior year in college. We started Alterea to create immersive theater experiences, what we like to call “storyliving” experiences. In these, participants explore carefully designed spaces, interact with live actors, play games, and embark on quests and missions. However, our journey was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing us to completely reimagine our business model to adapt and thrive. One of our prominent initiatives is Agents of Influence (AoI), a media literacy video game tailored for middle schoolers, primarily in the 8th grade, but suitable for those aged 11-16. (www.agentsofinfluencegame.com) The name “Agents of Influence” draws from the Cold War-era term that described spies who influenced foreign policy through misinformation. This game is designed for classroom use, library programs, after-school activities, or simply for fun.
In today’s world, misinformation and disinformation have become significant factors in exacerbating our societal challenges. It affects hundreds of millions of people daily, distorting the reality we live in. One crucial area for improvement is “civic empowerment,” and expanding media literacy education solutions to enhance individuals’ resilience to misinformation is part of the solution. Our target audience, in particular, is vulnerable, with extensive screen time, and studies have shown a high level of trust in partisan news sites.
Agents of Influence (AoI) addresses this challenge effectively. Through gaming, we provide transferable contexts to real-life situations, immediate feedback on decisions, and emotional connections with characters and stories that enhance learning retention. This generation of digital natives is accustomed to learning through gaming, and we’re leveraging this approach to combat misinformation effectively.
At Alterea Inc., we’re a creative studio that harnesses the power of stories, games, and history to inspire a world of explorers and change-makers who boldly live their stories. Each of our projects aims to reshape the narratives individuals tell about themselves, their relationships with others, and their perception of the world. Our goal with AoI is to transform students’ perspectives on how they interact with information and empower them to be responsible, engaged citizens.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

We largely bootstrapped our business. We had the advantage of starting the company in our final years of college and we were able to convince people to work for experience, community and creative fulfillment. We even had a lot of our hard costs donated! We did eventually reach a point that it was important to prove to ourselves that there was a financial future here, so we launched a Kickstarter. We needed further in developing the game, so we asked a professional game development studio in India that our professor recommended that was founded by an alum of our School. They believed in us and our vision, so they agreed to do it at no upfront cost – we would just split the money we earned with them. We agreed that we would not do further development until we had capital so the only cost was my time – which obviously I didn’t plan on having covered. We started finding success in grants and competitions including the Aspen Institute’s Information Disorder Competition and Small Business Innovation Grants from the US Dept of Education. That’s how we got our seed money.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

I’m a huge, huge advocate of cold outreach. I think its the best way to get something ambitious done in a timely manner. That’s what this story is related to. We were submitting for our SBIR grant which is 250k for the first year and 1million for the second one. Its a complex application requiring research partners, letters of commercialization and a letter from a school district expressing interest in our product and committing to research together.
Anybody will tell you, school districts are impossible. We reached out to several people for warm introductions – and we also got introduced to a couple people, but no school district was willing to work with us. Then, we were 10 days away from the application and had no sign of a school district. I finally took matters into my own hands.
I had heard of a group called the ‘League of Innovative Schools’ focusing on digital literacy. I went to the website if each school in the group (the names were public) and found 3-10 people Icould contact about working with us including details on hy we are aligned top their schools.
It took me 3 days to do that, I had one week left and I sent the emails.
Within 2 days, I got emails from 3 school districts that they would be happy to work with us.
I needed only 1.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.altereainc.com