A paid search engine could work once it proves itself. This means they need to put a significant amount of work and server resources into it first, get a critical mass of users and then they can make it paid.
> 1) Build a better/equal search engine to that of Google
For what it is worth Google has been busy lowering that bar for about 10 years:
- lower quality results
- dumber ads
- more nauseating practices generally
I'd like to no however that last summer the most brain dead ads disappeared and the last few weeks I've seen decent search results (2009 quality) twice.
When Google is good old Google from 2009 - where they return the exact weird quoted thing I seached for - then I actually consider going back.
1) Build a better/equal search engine to that of Google
2) Convince people it's better enough that it's worth paying for, or that their privacy matters enough that they should pay to not use Google.
3) Maintain your costs of operation and make a profit
There is no way I would invest in a company that attempted this, but as I said, I admire someone that would try.