Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, Franz attended the Christianeum in Hamburg and the Gordonstoun School in Elgin, Scotland and eventually graduated from the Christianeum with an accelerated high school diploma ("vorgezogenes Abitur") ahead of the rest of his class.
Declining a Full Fulbright Scholarship that would have funded doctoral studies in the United States, he stayed at ETH and began doctoral studies under the supervision of Turing Award Winner Niklaus Wirth, completing his Doctor of Technical Sciences degree in 1994.