diff --git a/bootstrap/bootstrap.py b/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
index bf65a27..03336e0 100644
--- a/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
+++ b/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
@@ -66,6 +66,13 @@ def main():
     else:
         logger.info('Setting up hub environment')
         initial_setup = True
+        # Install software-properties-common, so we can get add-apt-repository
+        # That helps us make sure the universe repository is enabled, since
+        # that's where the python3-pip package lives. In some very minimal base
+        # VM images, it looks like the universe repository is disabled by default,
+        # causing bootstrapping to fail.
+        subprocess.check_output(['apt-get', 'update', '--yes'], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+        subprocess.check_output(['apt-get', 'install', '--yes', 'software-properties-common'], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
         subprocess.check_output(['add-apt-repository', 'universe'], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
         subprocess.check_output(['apt-get', 'update', '--yes'], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
         subprocess.check_output(['apt-get', 'install', '--yes', 'python3', 'python3-venv', 'git'], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)