Ricardo Reyes and John Stubbs didn't come into Election 2016 with the intention of starting a super PAC. Out of politics for about a decade after working under the Bush administration, both had embarked on successful careers in the private sector -- Reyes as a spokesman for Silicon Valley giants like Tesla (TSLA) - Get Report , Square (SQ) - Get Report and Alphabet's (GOOGL) - Get Report Google, and Stubbs managing partner at Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Romulus. But as Donald Trump ascended toward the Republican Party's presidential nomination, the pair felt compelled to act.

"As Trump kind of did away with the other candidates, our amusement quickly turned to worry and then to horror as he was nominated the candidate for the Republican Party," said Reyes.

Drawing from the agile, start-up style they had come to know in the private sector, Reyes flew to Washington, D.C. and slept on Stubbs' couch while plotting out a plan of action. As Trump delivered his speech accepting the GOP's nomination in Cleveland, they prepared to set out for Philadelphia, where the Democrats would nominate Hillary Clinton the next week.

"We were kind of this interesting pair in the middle of the Democratic Convention," said Reyes.

Stubbs penned an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for Republicans to gather behind Clinton, and Time profiled their endeavor, dubbed Republicans for Clinton in 2016 (R4C16).

The grassroots effort that began with backing from friends and family recently filed papers with the Federal Election Commission as an independent expenditures committee, as in, a PAC. It has set up a crowdfunding page at on Crowdpac.com for donations and is laying the groundwork for action in the days and weeks to come -- namely, events and educational initiatives in swing states.

"The aim isn't just to make sure that Secretary Clinton defeats Trump, but it's also to try and educate voters to do something that isn't traditionally done in a democracy, which is split your ticket," said Reyes.

R4C16 hopes to help Republicans retain the Senate, focusing on races in states like Ohio, New Hampshire, Florida, Arizona and New Mexico, and to make sure that Trump is not only defeated but trounced in November.

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It welcomes Republicans who may be reluctant to publicly express their support for Clinton. Thus far, a number of GOPers have joined the cause. The group has earned the endorsements of former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and arms control director Ken Adelman, former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs Jim Glassman, and retired U.S. army colonel Peter Mansoor.

"There's strength in numbers here," said Reyes.

R4C16's aim is to step in where its founders believe Republican leaders have not, promoting conservative principles and denouncing Trump as a false messenger for them. But at the same time, they believe figures like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus have made the choice for some Republicans either by emphasizing that this is really a binary choice between two candidates.

"If you're telling us we have to choose [between] somebody who has a tradition of working on bipartisan legislation, who is respected around the world and is feared by our adversaries and somebody who I think would be an existential threat to the Republican Party and even national security, it's a pretty easy decision," said Reyes.

To be sure, life for R4C16 is hardly easy, perhaps especially when it comes to dealing with a base of Trump supporters who are angry with Republican elites who they believe have failed them and see the candidate as their only hope for change. But the group's ability to leverage new technologies and agility with communications platforms and social media gives it an edge.

Reyes' experience in Silicon Valley -- he stepped down as communications chief at Tesla just six months ago -- doesn't hurt, either.

"It's not a coincidence that Silicon Valley is, geographically speaking, one of the furthest places from Washington, D.C.," he said. "Trump represents an authoritarian, nativist, noncompetitive, isolationist model that is anathema to Silicon Valley's way of thinking."