Deterministic vs Probabilistic AI: What Business Leaders Need to Know | KG Charles-Harris

In this episode, Jeff Mains sits down with KG Charles-Harris, a serial entrepreneur who has founded six companies across industries ranging from genomics to AI. KG is the founder and CEO of Quarrio, a deterministic AI platform that solves a critical problem: getting accurate, consistent answers from corporate data in seconds instead of weeks.

KG shares his unconventional path to entrepreneurship, explaining how his companies emerge from late-night conversations with brilliant people who share a common problem. He breaks down the crucial difference between deterministic and probabilistic AI systems, making the case that when decisions involve real money, real lives, or real consequences, accuracy isn't optional—it's essential.

Key Takeaways

[0:00] Introduction to KG Charles-Harris and his multi-industry entrepreneurial journey

[1:18] How companies are born from conversations: The pattern behind KG's six startups

[2:30] The genomics company origin story: From 4:30 AM conversation to Norwegian startup

[3:28] Why Quarrio exists: Even data company CEOs can't get the data they need

[4:31] The Quarrio platform: 100% accuracy, plain language queries, auto-visualization

[5:27] Real-world impact: The $60M margin leak that took two quarters to find (would take 5 seconds with Quarrio)

[7:00] Deterministic vs. probabilistic AI explained: Why autopilots don't hallucinate

[11:30] The cycle time framework: Information → Decision → Action → Results

[13:00] Why ChatGPT's inconsistency is a dealbreaker for enterprise decisions

[18:30] Organizations as "decision-making machines" and democratizing decisions to every level

[20:30] The data explosion: Managing 300+ structured data sources in mid-sized enterprises

[23:00] Why Quarrio focuses on structured enterprise data (SAP, Salesforce, Oracle) instead of PDFs

[30:00] Go-to-market strategy: Why they started with Salesforce and sales teams

[32:30] The Salesforce incubation story: Free office space and immediate investment

[33:30] Team building philosophy: Surrounding yourself with people smarter than you

[37:00] Stewardship as core ethos: Taking care of family, team, customers, and partners

[38:30] The founder's dilemma: Resilience vs. delusion—knowing when to persist

[43:00] Where to connect with KG and learn more about Quarrio

Tweetable Quotes

"An organization is essentially a machine for making decisions and taking actions that have certain types of results." — KG Charles-Harris

"Cycle time to information shortens cycle time to decision, which shortens cycle time to action, which shortens cycle time to results." — KG Charles-Harris

"Agentic AI without context is useless. You need determinism to trust what is enacted within your system." — KG Charles-Harris

"Effectiveness requires redundancy. Efficiency optimizes for the shortest time or best expense, but effectiveness accomplishes the goal." — KG Charles-Harris

"I'm not very smart, and because I realize that, I ensure I work with people who are very smart. Then they make me look smart." — KG Charles-Harris

"Most of us give up before we should have. The break would have come had we stuck it out one more month." — KG Charles-Harris

"If you don't have their back, you cannot expect them to have yours. It's a relationship with everyone you're working with." — KG Charles-Harris

SaaS Leadership Lessons

1. Speed to Information is Your Competitive Moat

When one company gets answers in 2 seconds and their competitor waits 2 weeks, the speed advantage compounds across every decision, every action, and every result. Reducing cycle time to information isn't just about productivity—it's about market dominance.

2. Choose Effectiveness Over Efficiency

Efficiency optimizes for time and cost. Effectiveness optimizes for goal accomplishment. If your strategic goal is to dominate a market, you may need redundancy, extra resources, or more time. Don't let efficiency metrics sabotage strategic objectives.

3. Democratize Decision-Making Across All Levels

The most powerful organizations don't concentrate decision-making at the top. When you give every employee—from receptionist to VP—access to accurate data and the ability to make decisions in their domain, you create an organization that operates in near real-time.

4. Accuracy Isn't Negotiable for High-Stakes Decisions

Probabilistic AI is fine for creative tasks, but when decisions involve real money, supply chains, healthcare, or regulatory compliance, you need deterministic systems that deliver the same correct answer every time. Know which AI fits which use case.

5. Surround Yourself with People Smarter Than You

The only insurance against the chaos of founding is exceptional people. Focus on attracting talent with the right quality, motivation, and experience. Build relationships where you genuinely have each other's backs—it's not transactional, it's relational.

6. Resilience Beats Brilliance

Most founders give up one month before the breakthrough. The hardest part isn't building—it's not knowing whether you're delusional or just ahead of the market. Tenacity and belief in yourself when things drive you mad is what separates those who make it from those who don't.