President Barack Obama, with much of his Cabinet in tow, visited Ohio today to reach out to U.S. entrepreneurs amid complaints from some small business owners that his policies inhibit growth, Reuters reported.

Joined by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other Cabinet secretaries, Obama met in Cleveland with local small business owners.

“We’re here to hear from you directly,” Obama told a group at a small business forum. “We want your stories, your successes, your failures, what barriers you are seeing out there to expand.”

Obama has sought to mend fences with the business community after relations became strained over business complaints about his administration’s regulatory agenda and health-care reform law.

White House officials billed the trip as a chance to exchange ideas with business people and listen to opinions on how the administration can spur job creation.

“It is small businesses like yours that help drive America’s economic growth and create two out of every three new jobs,” Obama said.

The Ohio trip is the kickoff to a series of round-table meetings Obama and senior officials in his administration will be holding with business people throughout the country. The administration’s “Startup America” tour will include stops in Boston; Atlanta; Pittsburgh; Minneapolis; Silicon Valley; Austin, Texas; Boulder, Colo.; and Durham, N.C.