Matt Johnson’s seven years as a touring musician taught him that building a band is not all that different from entrepreneurship, whether that’s structuring a team or growing a client base. Johnson had been working in tech services for nearly 20 years when, like everybody else, he had his “ChatGPT moment” in 2023. “The world is going to change so fast,” Johnson says. Blank Metal is an AI-native software engineering firm. Johnson aims to “start over and write the rules for today’s era” with the goal of helping companies achieve what they never thought possible with technology. While Blank Metal’s services are not exclusive to industries with direct societal impact, like health care or education, Johnson says the company focuses on them because it is rewarding. “We’re tech optimists, and we have a lot of hope that in the right industry, with the right people, and the right technology, we can do really amazing things,” he says.