The reason it's hard to compete in search engines is that an MVP is pretty tough. If you can't type in [espn] and get to ESPN, then your search engine hasn't hit minimum viable product yet. But it's not that easy to get to the point where these "navigational" searches work. You probably can't do it with just a few people and a few months. It requires millions of up-front investment, like Cuil or Blekko.

So, if you want to build a new search engine, you need a more radical vision for what you are leaving out. Either you are leaving out the vast majority of the internet, or you are leaving out the vast majority of queries. Focusing on the areas where the press has dinged Google like privacy or an API won't get you there.