I was wondering, when you get a minimum capital, does that have to belong to you, and what is it for? Do you get it after you've created the faction or before or what?
I'm guessing your refering to the requirementsfor faction creation? If so, then yes, that is the minimum server value of entites that you must own at the time of faction creation that you then 'give' to the faction. Then there is the additional startup cost which is then lost completely.
I believe it is 2x that value. If you click on your credits on the sidebar, there should be an option in there for total capital - that will tell you the server value of everything you own, although the most accurate it is is by telling you per category (ships, items, etc).