The back logs of these two successful entrepreneurs are a great testament to what Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Their determination, creativity, and inspiration have made them mavericks of their time and here is a small glimpse of their stories.

Ryan Carson: Founder of Treehouse

Idea: 32 hour workweek

 After deciding he was tired of working for someone else, Ryan Carson launched his Portland, Oregon based online coding school, Treehouse, in 2010 but he decided to try something different: a four-day, 32-hour workweek. Though his idea was highly discouraged by others, he felt vindicated and stayed the course. The shorter workweek allowed Treehouse to compete for talent against companies with deeper pockets, and the business has prospered as a result. “We snap our fingers and get the very best people—people who choose to work for us over Google and Facebook,” Carson says. Even more impressive, employee turnover after almost four years is nearly zero. (The staff now numbers 80.)

Marco Hansell: Founder of Speakr (originally twtMob)

Idea: Get them to work for free

When Marco Hansell launched Speakr (originally called twtMob) in 2010, he had a clear business concept but needed programmers, developers, designers and copywriters to help launch it. Without the capital to do it, Hansell doled out IOUs to the six contractors who did eventually buy into his vision. Each signed a convertible note agreement, whereby the moment the company saw sales of $250,000 or attracted its first $1 million in venture capital, they could either take their full salary for their work up to that point, in cash, or opt for an equity share in the company equivalent to their back salary, plus 20 percent.

“We structured it so there was a little risk on both sides,” Hansell says. “They knew we weren’t just using them to make a quick buck that we’d be making a shared sacrifice. That’s how we got buy-in.”

The results: Within a year of launch, twtMob hit the $250,000 revenue trigger; within 18 months it had generated close to $2 million in sales. “Being resource-constrained made us very grounded, very resourceful and very smart about our decisions,” Hansell says. “We did a smaller number of things at a really high quality.”

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Source: Entrepreneur.com