cookiecutter command not found after installing with pip

You can also run that with

python -m cookiecutter https://github.com/pydanny/cookiecutter-django

I'm sorry but it appears you're mixing things up.

1. Because sudo apt-get install cookiecutter installs something called cookiecutter doesn't mean it is the same cookiecutter from pip. In fact, they have nothing in common. One is a cookie cutter for python, and the other is for django.
2. This is the cookiecutter on launchpad, the one you installed with apt-get: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cookiecutter
3. And this is what you're looking for: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/cookiecutter-django

So back to your question:

If you wish to save yourself some headache, even if you're working within a Virtualbox, there's nothing wrong setting up a VirtualEnv to handle the encapsulation of your projects.

I just, from the understanding of your question, replicated, and got everything working in seconds.

• mkvirtualenv myProject (assuming you have virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper installed, added to ~/.bashrc and bash restarted, either restarting terminal gui, or souce ~/.bashrc
• workon myProject
• Then within the (myProject) $~ prompt, proceed with your installations, namely:
• sudo apt install python-pip
• pip install cookiecutter
• Then proceed as normal, cookiecutter https://github.com/pydanny/cookiecutter-django.git

Unless you plan to spin up Ubuntu virtualbox instances for each Django project you wish to start, I will recommend you use virtualenv to keep things clean.