Many quantum state preparation methods rely on a combination of dissipative quantum state initialization, followed by unitary evolution to a desired target state. Here we demonstrate the usefulness of quantum measurement as an additional tool for quantum state preparation. Starting from a pure separable multipartite state, a control sequence, which includes rotation, spin squeezing via one-axis twisting, quantum measurement and post-selection, generates a highly entangled multipartite state, which we refer to as Projected Squeezed states (or P S states). Through an optimization method, we then identify parameters required to maximize the overlap fidelity of the P S states with the maximally entangled Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states (or GHZ states). The method leads to an appreciable decrease in state preparation time of GHZ states when compared to preparation through unitary evolution with one-axis twisting only.