Mark Benning grew up in a multigenerational farming family, which he says gave him an early sense of building something from scratch each season, and he later built on that by founding and leading four venture-backed software startups, working inside venture firms to learn the investor side, and eventually moving back to Edmonton after 25 years in California to start Sprout Fund because he saw a real gap in local startup capital. That hands-on background shows up in how he invests today: he focuses on B2B SaaS companies that can grow without needing a lot of extra funding, and he stays closely involved with founders, even flying to Atlanta with one to meet a customer's team in person during due diligence.