Self-funded search with Europe as a geographical focus?

I'm based in Brussels so if you are ever around happy to grab a coffee to discuss. To answer your questions, you're focus is way too broad. Personally I find that not being present in the country and having a full-time job makes it difficult to find a target - searching is not really a "side job". So pick one country and be prepared to spend a lot of time there - you don't necessarily need to live there (I for example invest in Italy), but you should be spending at least 40-50% of your time there so you should make sure that logistically and economically you can make that work. The idea of managing interns remotely could work, but remember that unless you are paying them, these are people that require a lot of your time to manage (and generally it is easier to manage them face-to-face unless you are very experienced both at what you are doing and in managing people remotely). In terms of prep before starting to search, it depends how much you know already on topics like how a search fund works, valuation, structuring a deal, writing an offer, carrying out a due diligence, managing a company, etc. If you already know this, then not sure there is much for you to prep - you just need to get to work. If you don't then you can study that.

Speaking the language will be key in some EU countries. In Spain, it will be hard to get traction if you can't speak the language fluently and build rapport with the prospective seller.

If you speak several languages fluently, I would still be careful to do a multicountry search. Even within the EU, regulations, laws, tax, and ways of conducting business will differ; and the search strategy may/should also differ depending on the country. What would make sense to me is a multicountry search focused on one specific industry