Florian “Flo” Kränzler (MBA ’26) reflects on his journey to HBS.
Long before he moved to the US as a teenager, became a startup founder, or decided to attend HBS, Florian “Flo” Kränzler was a tennis player. And while his illustrious career on the court spanned two decades and included a Bavarian Championship, a trip to German Nationals, and multiple All-Conference honors at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, his journey began inauspiciously, almost 4,000 miles from where he now lives in Chase Hall.
Born and raised in Munich — a city in Southern Germany with a rich history and cultural tradition — Kränzler began playing soccer and tennis at an early age. He enjoyed both sports throughout primary school, but demands on his time as he approached high school forced him to choose between the two. The success he had experienced on the court, paired with his proximity to the renowned Niki Pilić Tennis Academy, ultimately led him to pursue tennis.
Fully committed to the sport for the first time, Kränzler blossomed into a tennis star while training at Coach Pilić’s Academy (Pilić won Davis Cup championships for several European nations and coached 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic). A rigorous, 350-day-a-year training schedule allowed him to become a Bavarian Champion at just 15, and he quickly found himself playing in tournaments all across Europe. With his sights set on a professional career, Kränzler began to consider where his talent could take him. Though it wasn’t a common path for European players just ten years ago, he and his family saw college tennis in the U.S. as an opportunity to develop his game while pursuing an undergraduate degree and gaining valuable life experience in a new country. This setting would allow the academically-inclined Kränzler to continue his playing career while receiving an education that would prepare him for life after tennis. He considers himself an “early adopter” of this practice, which has become far more prevalent in recent years.
Lacking any real familiarity with the United States, Kränzler began to market himself to American college programs. While he jump-started the process by creating a player profile accessible to coaches across the US, it was a tournament victory over a member of the UW-Green Bay team that proved to their coach that he could not only compete but excel at the highest level of collegiate tennis. With a scholarship offer on the table, he investigated the program further and was comforted by the presence of other Germans on the team, as well as its track record of success in the Horizon League conference. So, just days after turning 18 and receiving his driver’s license, capable only of speaking what he describes as “rudimentary” English, Kränzler left his home in Germany and set out for Wisconsin.
Upon his arrival, he quickly achieved on-court success — he achieved a winning record playing fourth singles, and immediately joined the first doubles group as part of a team that won the 2015 Horizon League Championship. His team advanced to the NCAA Division I Tournament, where Kränzler battled Aleksandar Vukic — a current professional who ultimately became a three-time All-American and qualified for all four Grand Slam events in 2024 — to a first-set tiebreak before ultimately losing, ending his freshman season. However, this early success demonstrated significant promise, and expectations were high from Kränzler in the years to come.
Off the court, the transition to life in the United States was sometimes difficult. The distance from home proved challenging amidst the brutal Wisconsin winters, but Kränzler was intentional about finding community in Green Bay, improving his English skills by joining university clubs and actively building relationships with students from the US and around the globe. Though there were setbacks along the way, he made his mark both in the classroom and on the court at UW-GB, earning a double major in Math and Economics as well as Male Athlete of the Year honors after receiving 1st-Team All-Conference accolades as a junior and senior. His path to success in Wisconsin served as a prelude to the success he would go on to achieve later in life. As a leader on his team and on campus, he found ways to excite and motivate individuals from diverse backgrounds to accomplish more than they had previously thought possible.
Things in the US had gone better than he ever could have expected, and Kränzler had reached the point in his life and career where he had long assumed he would pursue professional tennis. Unfortunately, his collegiate success had come at a price — overuse injuries to his knees and back had him reliant on over-the-counter pain medication just to take the court, and he had grown accustomed to teammates and friends commenting on his seemingly constant limp. Doctors confirmed what he already knew — years of intense daily training had taken a toll on his joints, and further pursuit of competitive tennis would only make things worse. With this knowledge (and a college degree in hand), he made the difficult decision to hang up his racket and pursue a career in business.
As he looked to transition to life post-tennis, he first thought that consulting, with its fast-paced nature and emphasis on teamwork skills, would be a natural fit. However, he found an exciting career opportunity with a promising company in Southern California that helped corporate clients grow by launching innovative start-up ventures and partnerships, a job he described as “the best of both worlds,” given its applicability to his tennis background. It was not a 9-to-5, and Kränzler quickly realized that, much like in his tennis career, repetition and a willingness to work longer and harder than others would allow him to rise above the competition. Furthermore, the varied nature of the work required him to develop clear, concrete strategies while maintaining flexibility. Forced to think and act like a founder — a role he took on more formally in 2023 at Zero3, a carbon accounting platform — he was asked to be decisive and enterprising early in his career. Unsurprisingly, he thrived in this first role, leveraging the “fail fast, fail often, and quickly course correct” ethos that he had developed on the court in order to grow businesses in the US and Germany.
While he found this role fulfilling, Kränzler knew that it was time for the next phase of his life and career. Since arriving at HBS, he has taken full advantage of the experience, leaning into the opportunity to make new friends from a variety of backgrounds here on campus. He has been amazed by the incredible professional and personal backgrounds of this year’s RC cohort. In the future, he hopes to leverage his athletic and professional experience to pursue a career in finance, ideally in Investment Banking. Perhaps most importantly, as a Munich native, he has already volunteered to help plan next year’s Oktoberfest Trek - so do not be surprised if you see his name on your Slack feed in the weeks and months to come. Prost!
John Mahoney (MBA ’26) is a native of West Des Moines, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2021 with a degree in Finance. While in college, he was a walk-on defensive back for the Fighting Irish and wrote a book about his experience, titled “History Through The Headsets.” Prior to coming to HBS, John worked in consulting and strategy in Minneapolis and Chicago.
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