"Can" but who will? You already implicitly concede the point that mono has no community strong enough to survive without the Novell employees. Your hypothetical entrepreneur that fills this gap is charging money. Hasn't that just incurred an extra cost on the person who built their business on a free Mono? That's if this guy turns up on time for the crucial expansion to your business; if he turns up at all. There may well not be enough users of Mono to support such a model: I can't name a single big or medium sized group using Mono besides Novell itself.
Edit:
I think you have conceded my point against using Mono for a startup i.e. there is a real chance you are going to incur future costs of an unknown size. I don't live in a dark place either, please drop that language, I said I wish it wasn't this way. It's just that, given there are plenty of other options, why pick the horse lagging behind with vultures circling it for your business?
Edit2:
Also, to score a cheap point, I will highlight your use of language "fear and horror". Not only am I planting garden variety fear, but also horror. A new, and more terrifying, breed of FUD. FHUD - Fear, Horror, Uncertainty and Doubt. It's catchy.