The Host
Vaughan Owen
Serial entrepreneur. Co-founder of OwenKessel, acquired by Publicis. Now running Owen+Co. Perpetually uncaged.
The Story
The Build
Vaughan Owen is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of OwenKessel, a top 5 South African agency with clients including McDonald's, Heineken, and Diageo. He built it from nothing — no investors, no safety net — into something real enough to be acquired by Publicis.
The Exit
Then he sold it. The deal made sense on paper. The reality was something else entirely. Two years inside one of the world's largest holding companies taught him exactly why he could never work inside one of the world's largest holding companies. The quarterly reviews. The politics. The slow suffocation of anything that moved too fast or thought too differently.
The Return
He left. He now runs Owen+Co, providing strategic marketing to global clients — working with companies at the intersection of ambition and execution. The work is harder, the clients are more interesting, and he can breathe again.
The Podcast
Uncaged is the platform Vaughan built to explore the cognitive architecture of risk with people who've lived it, not theorised about it. Through behavioural economists, rogue operators, and founders who've walked both worlds, each episode dissects the architecture of ambition: what drives it, what derails it, and what separates those who build empires from those who optimise them. This isn't motivational. It's analytical. Over whisky, we decode the calculus of risk.
The Premise
"There are two species in business. One thrives in structure: quarterly reviews, pension plans, predictable ascent. The other can't breathe there. Uncaged explores the psychology that determines which path you choose — and whether you can ever switch."
— Vaughan Owen
The Format
Duration
45–50 minutes per episode
Tone
Sophisticated, probing, intellectually curious. The anti-bro-podcast.
The Ritual
Guests receive a curated whisky tasting kit ahead of recording. The conversation unfolds as they sip. Whisky slows the conversation. It creates intimacy. Stories emerge that wouldn't surface in a standard interview.
The Audience
VP-level executives contemplating the leap. Founders seeking pattern recognition. VCs and M&A specialists interested in the psychology behind decisions, not just the outcomes. People who read Thinking, Fast and Slow and listen to Acquired.
Owen+Co
Strategic marketing for companies building in fast-moving markets.
Owen+Co works with global clients at the intersection of ambition and execution — helping them find their voice, sharpen their positioning, and build the kind of presence that compounds over time.
Visit Owen+Co →