This paper examines the conditions of entrepreneurial success and failure in contexts where the institutional and physical infrastructure of Western capitalism is still emerging. I propose that at this more fundamental level, social isolation in its many forms (geographical, cultural, and information-based) is a key barrier to entrepreneurial opportunity and success, not only by preventing access to material resources and markets, but also to ideas and information about capitalist practice. The paper uses survey and archival data from individuals in contemporary rural India, which suggest that an individual’s travel footprint is associated with the profitability of micro enterprises, even after accounting for village- level differences, and that the communication facilities and information sources available in the village interact with travel effects.