I am not looking for search engine results, rather just seeking an
opinion (or a guesstimate) of how much it would take to start a search
engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN?

What are the things one would need?  Other than a gifted staff of
software engineers who can write code... servers? webcrawlers?

I have heard mention of major companies that help provide google with
many of the webcrawling results, so would the startup costs be as
high?

My question basically boils down to, are we talking thousands,
hundreds of thousands, or millions?  Google DID start in the basement
of Stanford, and I'm sure they didn't have millions.  I'd just like
your opinion for a 5* rating!

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Clarification of Question by zrike1-ga on 10 Sep 2006 09:53 PDT

I suppose this question is more difficult than what I first thought. 
Are there any google researchers that know anything about the creation
of search engines?

I used to work for a search engine. It started with about 20 employees
which included the three directors, a designer, a html/javascript
dude(me) two programmers. A Technical director. Some sales and
marketing guys and a secretary. All these people were paid salaries
between 20K to 50K pounds sterling(at startup) and the company quickly
grew from there.

Most search engines other than google and yahoo buy their results from
companies(such as google) As I recall the company we purchased from
was called Inktomi. The monthly was substantial (not sure what it was
tho)

At any rate even starting a second tier search engine takes loads of money.

"Major companies are paying top dollar for existing Internet Search
resources. Microsoft, Amazon.com, IBM, and other leading edge
companies are developing entirely new search engines at this moment.
In addition, many independent and open-source projects have begun
developing their own web search technology. Impressive, given that the
startup costs for a new search engine are estimated to be over $100
million dollars."

http://www.mkarch.com/seo.html

Thanks, exactly what I what I was looking for...
but I wasn't hoping for that answer!

When we are discussing about creating a search engine, the question is
not where to gather the data. Once you start crawling, the data (URLs)
multiple and become a job of numerous clustered servers. The question
is the technology behind it. Now as far as technology is concerned,
it's all about finding the right team and the right people, the people
who know what they are talking about, and can actually do it or get it
done programatically. Cost, varies. I won't say it can cost $100, but
at the same time saying it would definitely cost $500,000 for sure, no
less or no more, is incorrect too.

It just depends on so many factors. And it's constantly developing.
Engineers at Google/Yahoo/MSN still work "hard" to keep the technology
behind their search, top of the line, and I am sure it costs them
millions, NOW.