Prior to iLike, Ali established himself as an entrepreneur by co-founding LinkExchange, which was acquired by Microsoft for $265 million in 1998. Ali also co-founded "DrinkExchange," a monthly social event that spread from San Francisco to Washington, London, Tokyo, and Sydney. After leaving Microsoft, Ali co-wrote a feature film and started a band, both of which failed.

In 2002 Ali led the effort to save GarageBand.com from being shut down and has been with the company since. In 2006 Ali recruited his twin brother Hadi to help start iLike, and today they run iLike (which owns GarageBand) together. Ali is an avid music lover and wannabe guitarist