Apple MacBook Air M1 Boot

I wish to boot my laptop from USB or network, I have it booting from an external HDD but that's as far as I have got. I wish to boot to my piece of software not the Apple OS.

I have a piece of software that requires running before the OS. I have used this software many, many times before on Windows laptops, desktops, servers, and on a range of Apple laptops and tablets (pre M1).

Any suggestions would be beneficial.

Aaron