Today, Senator Warner met with startup businesses at the UberOffices coworking facility in Arlington to help celebrate Startup Day Across America.

As part of Startup Day Across America, startups across the country hosted legislators for town hall meetings and tours. Much progress has been made to better respond to the concerns of entrepreneurs, including passing last year’s bipartisan JOBS Act, which included provisions that expanded crowdfunding.

However, as Senator Warner said to the entrepreneurs in Rosslyn today, he believes there is still much work to be done in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship. He also said that it’s important for lawmakers take time to sit down with startup companies and have constructive discussions about improving the entrepreneurial climate in America.

“I was an entrepreneur back in the day,” Senator Warner said. “After my first two attempts at business ventures failed, I did what many entrepreneurs do - I tried again and was finally successful. We in Congress need to make sure we are allowing everyone to have a real shot at succeeding.

The Senator also took questions on a range of issues facing startup companies in the United States including the debt and deficit, patent reform, technology policy, and immigration.

Before he left, Senator Warner passed along a final request of the attendees:

“Stay in Virginia, create more businesses and make a lot of money.”