In my opinion, there are several advantages of a company going public. The foremost being accountability. I guess it's a bit psychological. Once you are public, inherently that feeling imposes some financial discipline on you as a founder/CEO. Then there are the mandated standards that force discipline upon you further. Next is the cheap availability of capital. Public money is one of the most economical ways of financing large sums of capital, on realistic terms. Third, you are not at the whims and fancies of a select group of investors. You can structure the company shares in ways that can either give you complete control or lets you keep strategic control while allowing you to de-risk your investor cohort.

That being said, one of the most frustrating parts of being a public company is SoX compliance. This is not just for the CEO but for any executive/VP dealing with finances and sales. Every large sale takes a bit longer because now you have to have this additional layer of scrutiny. When you are used to silicon valley pace, these delays can frustrate you, but you eventually get used to it I guess.