Inspiring Conversations with Erik Lopez of Milunova

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Lopez.

Hi Erik, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When my brother Saul moved back from France in 2018, we knew we wanted to start a business together. We just had no idea it would start with foster puppies.

At the time I was living in Houston with my three dogs, Millie, Luna, and Nova, and constantly surrounded by fosters – dogs, cats, whoever needed a home. Some days we were socializing scared dogs, other days bottle-feeding newborn puppies or coaxing shy kittens out of hiding. Somewhere in the middle of all that care and routine, it started to feel like more than just fostering. Every pet had its own story and working with them day after day made us want to build something that came from that same place.

The more we worked with these animals, the more we noticed that the products out there just felt generic. Like they were missing the heart we put into everything else we did with our fosters. We both come from engineering, so we started thinking: what if we approached this the way we approached everything else? We ran experiments. Used the scientific method: form a hypothesis, try it, observe, write it down, adjust, and repeat. Our fosters became our little test subjects.

We tested countless useless ideas that led nowhere. I’d be at Home Depot with foster puppies in tow, picking up random supplies to prototype something. Saul would make trips to Micro Center, coming back with components for whatever we were trying to build that week. But it was all that iteration that led to the great products that survived our rigorous design process. What we put out now is truly the best of the best: dog and cat tested, shelter and foster approved. We founded Milunova to develop products that could help us share that inspiration with other pet families, to make every moment with your dog or cat feel special.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Starting this company with my brother has been incredibly rewarding, but it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. That said, there’s no one else I’d rather do this with.

The biggest challenge is probably time. I’m still working full-time as an aerospace engineer, so growing this business means sacrifice. Every hour has to come from somewhere else. My brother took an even bigger leap and decided to focus on the company full-time for a couple of years. That was terrifying because we weren’t profitable yet, but someone had to take that risk if we wanted to really grow. Now he’s back to working full-time too, so we’re both dealing with that constant balancing act between our day jobs and building this business.

But honestly, the hardest part has been maintaining our quality standards. We’re obsessive about our products because when someone spends their hard-earned money, it has to be perfect. Finding the right manufacturing partners and supply chain hasn’t been easy. We went through a few manufacturers and freight forwarders trying to find the right fit.

We actually took several trips to visit our supplier in Asia ourselves to inspect everything in person. People kept asking us “are you sure you want to come?” Like no one actually does this. When we got there, there was one English speaker in the whole town, just at the hotel, and he asked us what we were even doing there since it’s such a small place. Going to dinner became this whole adventure of using translation apps to try to order food, with restaurant employees wanting to take pictures with us. At the manufacturer, we’d actually try parts of the manufacturing process ourselves to understand their perspective better. The workers got such a kick out of watching two Americans attempt to make pet toys. We did all this because we refused to sacrifice on quality. It took going halfway across the world to get it right, but that’s the kind of relationship we want with our partners: people who care as much as we do.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The first thing people usually want to know is where our name comes from. Milunova is actually a combination of my three dogs’ names – Millie, Luna, and Nova. Each one of them isn’t just an important part of our lives but essential to our company. We literally do what we do to make their lives better, and when it comes to the products we make, they’re often the inspiration and our first product testers.

We’re best known for our viral, patent-pending poop bags called Stop & Go Bags. People always ask what makes a poop bag go viral. They change color as they’re running out, warning you like a stoplight. When people hear that, they always have this moment where it clicks, like ‘why didn’t anyone think of that before?’

We’re also known for our line of interactive cat wrestling and dog hand puppet toys called Pupr Pals. We were the first ever to release this kind of product and we’re currently working through getting a patent. It’s meant to be worn like a glove with interactive and protective elements that allow for playful bonding with your pet.

What really sets us apart is the combination of everything we bring to this. We’re not just pet owners making products, and we’re not just engineers who happen to like animals. We’re engineers who live and breathe animal rescue every single day. Our focus groups are literally the animals in our care. We have the technical background to innovate and the hands-on animal experience to know what actually works. We’re obsessive about quality to the point where we’ll fly halfway around the world to inspect our manufacturing. It’s that whole package together that makes us different from other pet companies.

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is really easy: it’s the animals. I have so much love for my dogs that I can’t even begin to describe it. They’ve gotten me through so much, and I’ve learned more from them than I could have imagined. Same goes for my fosters. People think I’m the one helping them, but honestly, I’ve gotten so much more from them than I’ve given.

My mom always taught me that whatever you do, you should do with lots of love and intention. That’s exactly what this is about. We do what we do to help create those strong bonds between pets and their parents. We want other people to feel what we feel with our animals.

But it goes beyond just our customers. We have this program called Play it Forward where we donate toys directly to rescues, shelters, and organizations like Project Street Vet. These are the animals waiting in kennels or living in situations where a toy is a luxury they might never get. We believe play is a basic form of love, and every dog and cat deserves that experience. When we can put a toy in the paws of a stressed shelter dog or bring some joy to a pet whose family is going through hard times, that’s when our work really matters.

Success isn’t just about creating toys. It’s about the joy and comfort those toys bring to the animals who need them most. That’s what drives everything we do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://milunova.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milunova_pups/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milunova.fb/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@milunova