According to the article, blekko was in development for three years. Looking at the site ( http://blekko.com/ ), it appears they just kinda copied Google. The site looks like google, including the search results.
So, imho, no, they did not launch the "minimum viable product". To paraphrase Paul Graham, the way to beat Google would not be to attempt to replace it but rather render Google irrelevant.
Another point: Blekko is an example of what in management classes we refer to as "escalation of commitment". At some point, blekko should've realized that attempting to copy Google was a stupid idea and done something different. Instead, the longer they worked on it, the more committed they became to the idea. Three years later, no minimum viable product.
I think the term "minimum viable product" gets thrown around too glibly, as if it's the only way you can possibly be successful.
If your goal is to be a better enough search engine than Google for people to want to switch to it, it's kind of pointless to release basic search as a product (take a look at Cuil for an example). I think Blekko did the right thing by waiting until they had features like slashtags (especially tags like /seo that appeal to early adopters) and some basic social interaction, which I would say gave them a "minimum compelling product".
Thank you for mentioning "Cuil" by name. When I was reading the Blekko article, I was thinking "This reminds me of that search engine founded by former Googler's that bombed." I couldn't remember the name.
The name "blekko" sounds like "blech", another term for "gross" ( http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=blech ). The slashtag thing is also confusing.
So, imho, no, they did not launch the "minimum viable product". To paraphrase Paul Graham, the way to beat Google would not be to attempt to replace it but rather render Google irrelevant.
Another point: Blekko is an example of what in management classes we refer to as "escalation of commitment". At some point, blekko should've realized that attempting to copy Google was a stupid idea and done something different. Instead, the longer they worked on it, the more committed they became to the idea. Three years later, no minimum viable product.