Æli was born in Tehran, Iran, but his entire family fled to Norway during the revolution when he was just 5 years old. He got his degree in IT from the University of Agder, and he has worked in the petroleum industry as an IT Engineer on-site in China, Australia and Egypt. Æli started his own company,DigiMed1, when the oil crisis hit Norway. He is currently working on an app to track, recognize, and predict pain periods in weather-triggered illnesses.