This is a very important piece of the startup process. Every new venture requires learning. I think it is acceptable to learn by doing. So the strategic plan for HubPages could have been to figure out the best way to build a useful body of content, organize the content, and monetize it through ads. While this may seem over simplified, it probably took years of experience to get the confidence in this idea that it would work.

The key part of strategic planning is answering the "What". From there, mapping out the "How" is a best guess. Don't over plan, just come up with a logical plan and start executing. Throughout the process of starting a web based business you will find things that work and others that don't.

Part of the danger of over planning, or having the best plan is it is just a plan. Sometimes things look great on paper, but don't play out well in the real world. So it's important to execute the plan as quickly as possible to find out what parts of the plan are worth keeping, and what needs to be adjusted. Like a good coach makes adjustments in the middle of the game, expect to tweak and change your strategic plan as you go.

Post launch I try and plan no further than one quarter out. I've also learned that shorter term plans help in executing. Ideally, I think our development plan should be in one month increments so that we have enough flexibility to adapt to changes in our plan quickly.