/about / Owner · operator · builder
Founded inBaghdad.Built inColumbus.
I build and run real businesses. The same studio is for hire — brand, web, systems, operations.
01 / The story
Baghdad was founded as the Round City. In 762, al-Mansur drew a circle in the ground and built a capital inside it — planned, then built, then run. That loop is the whole idea. It is where I am from, and it is how I work.
I was born in Baghdad and I build in Columbus, Ohio. Somewhere in between I stopped waiting for permission to own things. I bought a company on day one — no runway, no co-founder — and built it end-to-end to an exit.
Since then the pattern repeats. EveryWrap and Almqam I own and run today. For clients, I build the same way I build for myself: the brand, the site, the system, start to finish. Round City is the name for all of it.
02 / Owner-operator
It means I have skin in every build. I do not hand you a strategy and leave. I run businesses on the same tools I sell — so the work has to actually work, because I live inside the result.
03 / Principles
- 01
One person owns the whole build.
Brand, site, and system by the same hand. Nothing falls between vendors because there are no other vendors.
- 02
Receipts over adjectives.
Live URLs, running businesses, real numbers or an honest blank. I would rather show you the thing than describe it.
- 03
Build it to run, not to impress.
A site that takes the job beats a site that wins an award. When it does both, good — but the order matters.
- 04
Heritage is substance, not costume.
The Round City is a real plan al-Mansur drew in 762. I work its loop — plan, build, run — I do not decorate with it.
ROUND CITY
المدينة المدوّرة
Round City is the studio of Ali Al-Khafaji — owner, operator, builder. Columbus, Ohio. Founded in Baghdad.