The long term benefits of being publicly traded are numerous and can include: improved liquidity, higher company value, the ability to make acquisitions or attract and retain employees with the newly public company stock and greater access to capital at a lower cost.

In addition, having public trading status allows a company the ability to make acquisitions with its stock, since publicly traded stock is viewed as currency for mergers and acquisitions. Moreover, public trading status often leads to a higher price for a later offering of a company’s securities.

There are many market places you may consider going public in the world. However, in the USA, even a small business can still go public. 

There are four main ways a company can "go public" in the USA.

• The first is issuing securities in an offering or transaction registered with all relevant securities commissions (Initial Public Offering - ["IPO"]). 
• The second is conducting a reverse takeover ["RTO"] of a public shell company or other public vehicle.
• The third is registering your company and its outstanding securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") without any middle parties - direct listing ["Direct Listing"].
• The fourth is to merger with a special purpose acquisition company ["SPAC"].