No idea if it will turn out like this, but I really hope we can crew our big cap ships sufficiently well with NPCs to have a good time in at least some kinds of PvE gameplay that's not feasible using smaller ships. Otherwise there are going to be a LOT of Idrises, Javelins and Krakens that never leave their hangars, and some owners feeling like CIG has taken advantage of their generosity.
Equally, the more players who crew a big ship, taking over crew places from NPCs and doing their assigned tasks better, the more effective the ships should be - ideally, CIG will find a way to balance the gameplay effects of crewing so that the benefits of having real players with even modest skill in a multi-crew vessel are marginally better than having those same player flying around in their own mid- to end-game ships, nearby working toward the same goal. With practice and skill, those players should be good at their crew tasks, and be much more valuable than they could be in their own ships. Otherwise, why would anyone crew for another player long term. Role play, fun with your mates not caring about rewards, or a bit of variety and a change of pace is fun for a bit, but ultimately players will gravitate towards doing what rewards them best in-game - what helps them progress.
There have to be a lot of owners of bigger ships - I'm one - who aren't all that into PvP and likely never will be. Squadron 42 looks like it will be a lot of fun, but we'll expect something satisfying to do in the PU too, solo. My guess is that getting things right to create a satisfying PvP game is significantly harder than getting things right for PvE-focussed players will be. If that's true, spending time working on gameplay where you HAVE to crew bigger ships with real players, and making fleet battles work is absolutely the right thing to focus on first. When that gameplay is in a good place, and the bigger org pioneers with a lot of time to play with a lot of friends have helped the game get to that good place, I would imagine creating exploration, industrial and PvE combat gameplay for solo players, including those using NPCs in their bigger ships would be comparatively less difficult.
I guess us solo big ship owners are in for a longer wait, but I really do want CIG to give us something rewarding and fun to do with those big ships eventually.