> Original research is much riskier than a job at your typical public company.
The typical job at the typical public company is also a lot less innovative than original research.
I have a feeling that the author will discover that the grass is always greener on the other side. The private sector has no shortage of authoritarian big-men[1], dumb vanity-driven projects, asinine performance review metrics, PHDs doing the equivalent of licking envelope stamps, and your work being thrown out in the dumpster (With no ability to share it with the outside world, because trade secrets), because someone in upper management lost a political battle, and your division has been canned, or re-purposed.
[1] Of either gender.
I've known a few professors that publish paper after paper with similar results and similar methods. I suspect each of having a much deeper theorem, either under their hat, or (more generously) at the tip of their tongue. If they'd take a bit of a break from the churn and focus on the deeper theorem, their actual impact on the field would be significantly more value. We'd all get to read, write, or review, a small handful of papers instead of dozens.