with 12 people $40k/month total burn is like paying each person around $30k/year annual salary when you factor in other expenses like equipment, telecom, travel, etc. So yeah, that's pretty tight.
It's not the $40K that's surprising, it's the 11 developers. I'd have guessed 3-4 (and consequently a lot lower burn).
Burning over a quarter of a million in 7 months on a web app sounds like a lot these days, but I'm not out there doing it, so what do I know.
I think that because part of his team being in India, he can keep expenses low.